


God Save My Soul

by Whisperingwhy



Category: EXO (Band), K-pop
Genre: Alternate Universe - Angels & Demons, Angel/Demon Relationship, Doctor Suho, M/M, Minor Violence, Soulmates, baek and yeol little bitches, crybaby tao, unstable lay
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-04
Updated: 2017-10-30
Packaged: 2018-08-12 22:16:13
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 36,677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7951246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Whisperingwhy/pseuds/Whisperingwhy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Angels have been sent down from heaven to do God’s work, which would be easy if those pesky demons didn’t keep getting in the way. There’s nothing good about demons, but X finds himself unusually drawn towards one particular troublemaker.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Yixing Revisited

**Author's Note:**

> Often characters will be referred to by more than one name, ie Suho/X. The name used is important to character development. The same person may be referred to in both ways within a sentence, depending upon the speaker. The use of a particular name gives clues about where the character is in their personal relationship.

Entering heaven again after a month of living on Earth, was always a brief culture shock for X. Having been sent to Earth to do God’s work meant that he had fully integrated himself into his new life. This month had been an adjustment that he had finally seemed to come to terms with. As a student, he had returned to heaven on a daily basis. 

When he had received his assignment, he had initially worried about living full time on earth, but he finally decided that if God needed him – he would be there. And now that he had gotten used to his new life, he was starting to enjoy the diversity of thoughts that came with human beings. They were messed up – but they were interesting.

Up until now, X had been sheltered from having to work on Earth. He was one of the original transformed angels: When God had first decided to promote former humans to angel status, X had been in the original group. After his inception as an angel, there had been many, many more groups of humans who has received the great honor. Due to his honored status – almost as high as created angels - he had always obtained heavenly jobs. Jobs that required little work and lots of glory.

However, times had changed. The number of humans qualified to become angels had sharply decreased in the last 50 years. Not only that, but many angels had fallen during their work on Earth. The temptations were great, and as the number of angels decreased, the amount of demons increased. Fallen angels also became higher level demons – usually Level 2, but at times they became Level 3 or 4 demons. The most dangerous kinds.

Add that to the fact that in recent years many “saved souls” – those who didn’t qualify to be angels, but were not demonic in nature – were choosing not to give up their body and wait until they were reincarnated. Too many souls were restless nowadays. They wanted to have fun and experience being wild. These souls chose to remain on earth as demons. Granted, they were Level 1 demons – which meant they were not dangerous to humans or angels. However, they were annoying. They also worked to lead humans astray, thus effectively eliminating them as future angels.  
Unfortunately, X had to deal with these Level 1 demons often. At times, he was even able to persuade them to choose the right path and go to heaven. Often however, they continued as Level 1 demons indefinitely. Luckily most Level 1 demons did not raise to higher levels – they just did not have an evil nature. But the could cause lots of troubles for both humans and angels. They had to be watched and contained.

As X walked through the administrative area, he could feel the calming influence of the glory of heaven. He could feel all of the earthly influences being washed away from him, and his mind seemed to clear and be refreshed. Maybe these monthly check-ins were a good idea for all earth bound angels. It was important to be able to reconnect with the reason you were an angel. As he walked through the crowded street he was so engrossed in his own thoughts that he was oblivious to the other angels going about their business.

“Suho, it’s been a long time!” X looked up, startled when he heard his familiar angelic name. On Earth, he had become Dr. Kim Xiao, called X for short. He was surprised to see another early transform coming towards him.

“Yixing? Is that really you?” X could not hide his happiness. “I haven’t seen you in years, Yixing. Where have you been?” X rushed towards his friend and proceeded to pull him in for a quick hug. He checked him over quickly to make sure that he looked happy and healthy. X could not keep the smile off of his face as he turned towards the man he had not seen for so long.

Yixing let his friend fuss over him, knowing that this was part of Suho’s character. Taking care of others had always been his strongest attribute. “Suho, I never had the chance to tell you about my recruitment. I was in a training program for over three years, and have been earth bound since that time.”

X’s brows drew together. A three-year training program? As far as he knew, there was only one program that required that long of a training program. “Yixing? You’re an Eradicator? How? Why? Are you OK?” X’s concern was all over his face. He placed his hand on Yixing’s back to assure himself that his friend was OK. Eradicators were a very small group of specialized angels. They went through extensive training in order to battle Level 3 and 4 demons – the dangerous kind. They were actually the only angels who had the authority to hurt another sentient being. 

X shuddered at the thought of that. He would never have made it into Eradicator training at all. It took a special kind of angel to be able to hurt other beings, and still keep the pureness of love for humanity that was required to be an angel. The number of Eradicators was small, and grew smaller every year as they passed to the dark side. Even eradicating demons was torture on the soul, and many could not withstand the evil inherent in the act.  
“Suho, do you have time to sit and talk? Maybe get some coffee? Americano right?” He smiled at his friend and pointed across the street to a small, yet crowded café. 

X nodded his head in agreement. He had originally planned to come and do his monthly check-in and then leave as quickly as possible. Staying too long in heaven made you want to stay and never leave again. However, he wanted to take the time to catch up with his old friend. He looked at Yixing and noticed some subtle differences in his features. He had more of an edge to him now, and his lean frame seemed to have filled out.

As X followed Yixing he thought about their prior friendship. They had become very close at one point. So close that X had wanted to take it to another level. It was Yixing that had called a halt at that point. Yixing’s proclivity for the female gender was well known. Being close to him, X knew Yixing’s feelings, but lots of lines were blurred in heaven, sexuality being one of them. There were no rules, and not even accepted practices when it came to gender. But Yixing had made his feelings perfectly clear, and despite a broken heart, X had accepted the angel’s decision. 

However, the rebuke had put a strain on their former closeness. Their interactions had gone from easy closeness to a more awkward togetherness. Then when Yixing had been called to report for a specialized duty, they had lost touch and despite attempts to contact Yixing, X had come to the conclusion that his friend no longer wanted anything to do with him.

After ordering their coffee and choosing a table that was on the outskirts of the crowded café, the two angels sat down and got a good look at each other. Yixing noticed that the senior angel seemed even more handsome than before, as if that were possible. He felt a slight quickening of his heartbeat as he stared at his friend. Suho had always had such an effect on him. When he had confessed his feelings to Yixing, it took everything he had not to give in to his desires and love the guardian angel.

But Yixing had known his limitations. He was not good enough for Suho. The purity of angels came simply through the idea that they cared so deeply about the human race and wanted to continue its existence. Besides that fact, angels came in all different varieties. Although all angels were intrinsically good, they still all had faults and weaknesses. But Suho – Suho had so few faults. He was the purest soul that Yixing had encountered. He truly believed in the goodness of everyone. 

This inherent goodness intimidated Yixing. As he thought back on his love interests – both as a human and as an angel, he knew that he had hurt many women. His reputation was known by most angels in the area in which they had lived. Yixing had found it easy to use Suho’s gender as a reason for not becoming involved with him. However, Yixing’s feelings for him were far from the feelings one has for a friend. 

Just looking at Suho made him ache all over. The desire to pull the smaller angel to him and feel his body against his and his lips on his own – it was almost overpowering for Yixing. When he had been called to duty, it was the best thing for both of them. Making a complete break had not been his own choice, however, it was just a circumstance of his training. He had tried valiantly in the training period to forget about Suho – to the point of blatant promiscuity. Now looking at his temptation – he knew that he had not succeeded in that mission. His desire for Suho was as strong as ever. 

X looked across at his friend, he could not read the look in the other’s eyes, but wondered at the intensity. “I tried to contact you often, Yixing, but you wouldn’t respond.” The hurt in his eyes was almost Yixing’s undoing. He watched Suho nervously tear the cup sleeve off of his coffee. “Why wouldn’t you answer me? Did I really disgust you that much?”

This question took Yixing by surprise. The old Suho would not have asked such a question outright. His Suho had grown in the last few years. He looked into Suho’s eyes, “No, Suho, never. You never disgusted me. You were my best friend. My training kept me from contacting you. I never even received any messages from you. I would have answered. Really.” He grabbed Suho’s hand across the table. 

X looked into his earnest eyes and believed what his friend was saying. He let out a nervous laugh and casually removed his hand from Yixing’s. “I’ve missed you Yixing. You need to tell me about what’s been going on with you for the past 5 years. Where’s your placement?”

Yixing quietly noted how Suho had removed his hand from his grasp and tried to wrap his mind around why this had happened. “Well, we’re at the same check-in station. We must be near each other in locations. I’m in New York. It’s definitely a challenge. A big city with plenty of demons.”

X grunted in agreement at this statement. “That’s my location, too. I only have to deal with lesser demons though. But I agree, there are lots of them.”

“What is your assignment on earth? You’re not a guardian anymore?” Yixing wondered why the perfect guardian would be moved into a different role.

“Well, I am a guardian, it’s just that I’m a guardian of many more people now. I’ve been visiting earth to attend medical school. But this month I finally received an assignment. I am Dr. Kim Xiao on earth, but I just go by X.”

“Kim Xiao? That’s a…strange combination of names.” He felt his heart speed up when he heard laughter coming from Suho.

“Believe me – no one asks any questions about it.” He couldn’t admit to his friend that he had chosen the name because of Yixing himself. He hoped his friend didn’t remember the time when he had referred to him as Xiao – the obedient little helper. X always remembered of course and had used this name when he first started medical school, as well as his own surname from his previous life. 

“They just call me X on earth. It’s much easier for the New Yorkers to handle, you know.” He didn’t want to explain how the draw of the name had eventually worn off and he had made the decision to shorten his name to X. 

“Mmm. My name on earth is Lay – that’s a long story, though.” He hoped his discomfort did not show to his friend. The reason for his nickname was not really something he wanted everyone to know about. 

As he continued to talk and catch up with his friend, X realized just how much he had missed their easy camaraderie and how they seemed to be on the same wavelength most of the time. After an hour of talking, he suddenly realized the time and noted that it was time to go to his check-in and get back to his life. 

X stood up and hugged his friend as he made promises to keep in touch and meet again at the next check in. As he hugged him he could feel how Yixing’s body had become more muscular and solid. He released his friend and turned away. He suddenly realized that hugging Yixing had produced no sparks of desire or cravings in him, as it would have years ago.

Yixing followed his friend with his eyes as he walked away from him. The brief hug had given him the chance to feel the muscular body of the smaller angel. He was able to breathe in the scent that was uniquely Suho. Despite his attempts not to feel anything, his body had responded to the hug and smell with a quick surge of desire and longing. He felt his heart ache as he watched the retreating figure.


	2. Why Kyungsoo?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a short chapter that’s needed to set the background of the story. There will be a few more of these, so bear with me!

As X left the meeting he thought about his lack of sexual feeling towards his one-time desire. The rejection, the time, the space. All of it seemed to add up to his being able to put a relationship with Yixing behind him. Although he felt a pang of regret for what might have been, he didn’t actually regret his life now. He was content with the work he was doing, and did not need another being to make him happy.

He entered the recorder’s room and quickly signed in on the computer. He was happy that there were only a few other people in the waiting room. He really wanted to get this over and done with so he could return home. When the number he had been assigned popped up on the screen, he was surprised when another angel stood up at the same time and headed towards the door. 

Although he had questions about how they could be assigned the same number, he held the door open for the baby-faced angel. He couldn’t help but notice that this one looked every bit the angel. His large doe eyes and innocent look would captivate any human in his presence. 

The familiar face of his recorder came into view as he entered the room, “Kyungsoo, how are you? Do you know why we both have the same number?” He pointed towards the small angel who had taken a seat.

Kyungsoo seemed a little nervous, and awkwardly smiled at X. “Ah, yes, Suho. Well, there’s a little something you need to know. We realize that your area has been very busy lately. There’s a lot going on. There seems to be an especially large influx of Level 1 demons around, huh?” He drew his brows together after he said these words. X suddenly got a sinking feeling in his stomach.

“You are very good at training novice angels, Suho. You have a reputation for it, you know?” X narrowed his eyes at these words and cast a look over at the fragile looking angel. “It’s important that we place several angels in your immediate location to take care of some of the behaviors that are taking place. The problem is we just don’t seem to have enough trained and qualified angels right now.”

X began to get impatient with all of the evasive behavior, “Kyungsoo, please just tell me what’s going on, and what I am going to have to do.” He sighed and ran his hands through his hair.

“We are making you a supervisor over three novice angels. They haven’t had anything but the 2 months of initial angel indoctrination. We are counting on you to train them in dealing with the demons at your particular location. You can handle this Suho.”

X knew that his eyes had gotten wide at this information. He had trained novice angels before – but never in the field. Training an angel to deal with humans and demons took time. He had never heard of this sink or swim method of training being used for an angel. Something was not right here.

He didn’t want to make the novice angel feel uncomfortable – he knew how important it was for them to feel a sense of belonging, but at the same time he needed to know the full story. “Kyungsoo, you need to level with me. What’s going on? This is not normal protocol. Training novice angels in the field? It could be dangerous.” He tried to keep his voice low to limit the amount of information the small angel could hear. “I need to know what’s going on and how I fit into the picture.”

Kyungsoo nodded his head in agreement, but seemed reluctant to give him the information he had asked for. “Suho there are some dangerous things going on around your location. A couple of the best Eradicators we have were called in to help with the situation. But you and these trainees – you won’t have any contact with the higher level demons. It’s just that we’ve noticed more Level 1 and 2 demons in the vicinity and we’re wondering why so many are showing up in the area. We need to make sure they are monitored and controlled. We can’t let them get out of control or believe that they have too much power. To do that we need more of a presence, and we’re limited right now. Even a novice angel can keep Level 1 demons under control, right?”

Suho looked at Kyungsoo skeptically. He had thought the same way before his assignment and actually being around Level 1 demons. Sure they could be contained easily enough, but they were trouble. All of the time. The presence of an angel did not stop them from doing crazy, illicit things. Putting a novice into this situation could be too much temptation. Novices didn’t know how to control their feelings and thoughts well enough. He just didn’t want to see one of them get hurt.

“You’ll return with your new mentee today.” Kyungsoo looked on the computer in front of him. “His name is Luhan and he already has his assignment. They thought maybe he could stay with you while you’re training him.” He nodded at him apologetically. X couldn’t even get mad at him because he could see how bad Kyungsoo felt about the situation. “Ummm, they want you to keep the other two with you, also. You’ve already been moved to a larger place. The other two will be arriving within the week.” He looked at the computer again. “Let’s see – Xiumin and Kris are their names. They’re still finishing up their assignment training, but should arrive within the week.” 

X couldn’t really do anything but agree to the situation. He looked over at the baby faced angel and wondered what his assignment could be. How would demons be able to take that beautiful face seriously? He shook his head and vowed to do as much as he could to protect the angel. He wondered what the other two would be like.


	3. The Mentor

As X left the subway station and made his way into the new apartment building, he reflected on the last few days. He had no idea how much his life would change with the entrance of the novice angel into his life. The worst part was that his worry had increased exponentially. Luhan brought out every protective instinct in him despite the insistence that he was fine and didn’t need to be worried about so much. He thought of himself as much tougher than anyone else saw him. 

Walking into the apartment, X’s eyes were instantly drawn to a small figure sitting on the couch and his feet stumbled as he took in the figure’s appearance. What the…? No way they sent ANOTHER baby faced angel to him. His heart could only withstand so much. He instantly felt that protective instinct rise in him. Why were they doing this to him? He walked to the couch to get a better look at this new angel.

As he approached, the new angel stood up. X noticed that despite his smaller size, he was muscular and sturdy looking. Although young in the face, X was able to perceive that this angel had a more mature countenance. But his face – where were they finding angels with such beautiful features anyway? He didn’t know if he could stand to see them get hurt as they learned the ropes.

“You must be Suho,” the new angel stuck out his hand in greeting. When X took the hand he noticed the strength and confidence in the handshake. “I was told to report to you. My name’s Xiumin. Kris is here, too. We came together.” Xiumin inclined his head towards the kitchen and X noticed the laughter for the first time. He looked over and saw Luhan standing beside a much taller angel. Although he was definitely too good looking for this job, X was immediately grateful that he had much more mature and manly features.

He turned back towards Xiumin. “I need to change. Can you let Luhan and Kris know that we’re going to have a meeting in half an hour in the living room. I want…” He stopped when he saw the look on the other angel’s face. Without thinking he ran his hand quickly through his hair and ruffled it in exasperation with himself. “I’m sorry, I forgot to greet you. It’s nice to meet you, Xiumin. I just need to go and clean up from the day. I really want the chance for all of us to talk and discuss our assignments.” He looked at Xiumin’s face, which had softened in understanding. 

“You go on, Suho. I’ll let the others know.” He watched as the senior angel turned and walked to his room. Both Luhan and Kris had come into the living room when they had heard the voices. Xiumin smiled at his friends – he knew both of the angels from initial angel classes. “You’re right, Luhan, he’s kind of uptight and intense. But it kind of fits him, huh? I’ve heard about him, but I really didn’t expect him to look so – I don’t know – so noble? Word has it that he’s left a stream of broken hearts throughout heaven – both male and female.”

Luhan snorted, “Yeah, I can see that. But I don’t think he even realizes the effect he has on others. He’s so centered on his work and helping others. He seems really oblivious to his looks and his charms. I’ve heard that most of the broken hearts were undisclosed love. It seems his aloofness keeps others from approaching him in that way. I mean, I can tell he’s caring and nurturing even, but he does have a wall put up. I wonder if anyone is ever going to crack that.”

“Well, I guess we’ll be able to figure him out more in the next few weeks. Anyway if you didn’t hear, he wants to have a meeting in about twenty minutes.” They all nodded and sat down on the couches. The three angels passed the time by filling each other in on what they had been up to since the initial training. 

They were all startled when Suho walked back into the room looking fresh and cleaned up. His white shirt unbuttoned at the collar showed the contrast with his slightly tanned skin. His hair, which was dyed a smoky, gray was disheveled and fell over his forehead. All three angels could not help but appreciate his appearance, but they also instantly noticed that he had no clue that they were looking at him in appreciation, or that he even realized how enticing he looked. They threw glances at each other to communicate this knowledge silently.

“I thought maybe we could go grab a bite to eat and get to know each other better. I need to know a little bit more about each of your assignments, even though I received information about how all of our assignments are meant to complement each other’s. We’ll actually be working together a lot. It seems this area has a concentration of demons – one group in particular is causing problems. They seem troublesome to the morality of the younger crowd around here. But we’ll talk about that a little more at dinner. I think we should eat in the district we’ll be serving – get to know the local faces and the general population.” 

 

The four men finally agreed upon a local restaurant that was connected to a rather popular and bustling bar. At this early hour, the amount of humans was small and the atmosphere was still quiet and calm. The reports from this location, however, indicated that later in the night the scene would become quite different. They wanted to see when the change would occur and how the patronage changed when the climate changed.

After each man ordered their dinner, Suho decided to get right to work with his new charges. “First off, my name on Earth is Dr. Kim Xiao, but you can just call me X.” He noticed the confusion on their faces because of his different name, but decided to just ignore that and go on. “I work in the Emergency room of the closest hospital, and have to deal with patrons of this area on a daily basis. It can get rough down here and we see people coming in and out all night long. My job is to save those that can and should be saved.” The other angels were thrown by his businesslike attitude. It was well known that he did most things by the book and had a guarded demeanor.

“Luhan arrived last week. We actually see each other at work on a regular basis. His assignment is as a paramedic. He has a lot of access to the seedier side of the city. He serves this area, however, and all of us will have interactions with him while we’re working. The fighting, drugs and alcohol that are running rampant in the area keeps him busy. Now you two can fill us in on what your assignments are.” He looked at both Kris and Xiumin.

Xiumin spoke up first. “I’m actually going to become the owner of this establishment. Once I step in, everyone will believe that I’ve been around for years. There seems to be a lot of negative activity that goes on here. They seemed worried in our training, but they tried to act like it was no big deal. Do you know if there’s anything strange going on here?” He directed his question towards X, and all three novice angels turned to him to hear his response.

“I don’t know anything more than you do. I kind of picked up on some subtle vibes, but I was reassured that this was just Level 1 activity and that there was nothing to worry about. But having me train three novice angels – that’s kind of unusual. But it doesn’t do any good to question heaven made decisions. I just wonder why they had to send me angels that were so…good looking. It’s just asking for trouble.” 

Kris scoffed when he heard this. “Look at who’s talking? You look like some kind of model.” He noted the surprise and incredulity on X’s face and realized that his mentor had no idea the effect he had on others. He shook his head at the thought that this man did not realize that he gave off sexual energy just by breathing. “Anyway, my turn. My assignment is a police officer that patrols this area. It seems there is trouble here every single night. Nothing major – but enough to cause problems. Drunkenness, PDA, lewd behavior, loitering – those kinds of things. Most of it starting at the hands of a demon.”

“It seems like they have us working in occupations that complement each other. I think we’ll have a lot of interaction while we’re doing our jobs. I know you guys have been trained for your assignments, but how much do you know about dealing with demons?” X threw a questioning glance at the three angels.

“We didn’t get too much of a chance to be trained in that,” Luhan spoke for the group. “They told us that’s where you came in. But we’ve heard that Level 1 demons are no big deal.”

“Yeah, well, they’re a bigger problem than you realize – especially if you haven’t been trained. For tonight, just start by noticing the demons in the crowd. You’ll see the difference right away. I mean they look like humans, of course, but their aura is different. And that doesn’t mean it’s necessarily darker. The lines are becoming blurred as saved souls are becoming demons. They’re usually not evil – they’ve just chosen the dark side. But you’ll notice their auras are more intense and sharp, whereas humans are muted. Even though many were saved souls at one point, you still have to remember that they chose to go bad. They chose to do things that actively work against humanity and human beings. They’re sneaky and dangerous.”

“How are they dangerous? They’re not even able to physically hurt humans. They definitely can’t hurt angels, and they can’t control our minds either.” Kris didn’t seem worried at all about the thought of the demons that were walking amongst them. “We have the power to control them.”

X frowned at Kris’s haughty attitude. “We do have the power to make them do what we say. We can order them to stop doing something or to leave an area – but the power to make them actually obey is something that takes a while to learn. That’s why we don’t bother to confront a demon who isn’t causing major problems. We only step in when needed to save the situation. When you first start – you’ll have trouble controlling a demon’s actions with your mind. The step that usually has to be taken is contact. If you cannot get a demon to do as you want, touching them will have an immediate effect. They’ll be unable to refuse when you’re in contact with them. But…” 

The three young angels had been hanging onto his words, but the tone of the last word made them all look up and give their full attention. “But – what?” Xiumin prompted him to go on with his instruction.

“But when you touch a demon, you have to be able to block off your inner thoughts and feelings, because they can gain access to them. You have to realize that manipulation of thoughts and ideas is what they do. They are able to use a human’s weakness against them. They can manipulate their wills this way. Since we are in human form, we’re susceptible to it, too. However, we’re much stronger than a human and we’re stronger than a demon. But I just want you to remember that it can happen. Maybe because of a long day at work or because there is a strong emotion associated with the demon’s transgression. Sometimes there is no real known reason. We’ll be training on how to block them, but for tonight I don’t want you to even try to make them do your will – and definitely no contact.”

The three angels nodded solemnly, all of a sudden their assignment had turned real and dangerous. Each had been excited at the thought of helping God on this mission – but they didn’t fully realize that any time one came in contact with a demon, trouble could happen. They were just beginning to see this and it hit them hard for the first time. 

“So for tonight – just mingle with the crowd. All you need to do is try to recognize the demons in the bar. After a while you’ll be able to recognize a demon instantly. Don’t worry too much about them trying to manipulate you – they can also tell who we are and they’d just as soon stay away from us. Angels and demons don’t mix well.”


	4. Patrol

After dinner, the four angels moved to the club side of the establishment. It had been steadily filling up for the past hour, and the noise level had increased dramatically. The angels ordered drinks so that they fit better into the nightlife scene. They stood at a high table and perused the crowd. Talking quietly amongst themselves they pointed out the different demons they saw in the bar. 

The sheer amount of demons in the club was a real worry for X. There were at least four distinct groups. One group was four rather rough looking young men. Another group consisted of five women dressed as slutty as possible, turning the head of every male they passed. The third group was a combination of men and women. The fourth group was the hardest to pinpoint – four young men who all looked like they had stepped off of the TV and into the bar. They drew quite a lot of female attention, and even a fair amount of male attention.

X watched as the tallest demon stepped out onto the dance floor. His smiling face was instantly surrounded by women trying to attract his attention. Another shorter demon joined him and they laughed and flirted with the women around them. They were easily controlling these women, and the females had no idea, and no desire for it to stop. X shook his head in annoyance. The throbbing of the music, the steadiness of the drinking and the sheer mass of people already caused havoc on the senses. Add to that the manipulative power of demons, and these humans stood no chance.

As the night progressed, the three novice angels started to move around the club to get a closer look at what was going on. X stayed at the table keeping each of them in his view as they moved. Several women had come up to him to try to talk and flirt, but X found it easy to stare right through them until they walked away from the awkwardness. Not being used to the large number of people he felt off balance and wanted to leave the room full of people pressing up around him. 

He only became aware of the fight taking place next to him when he heard the loud, drunken scream from a man at a table close to his. He noticed that several people had been knocked to the floor in the ensuing fight. X tried to move towards the people, but the crowd gathering around the fighters made it very hard to move around at all. As he moved to help the people in the middle of the fight, X was forcefully shoved out of the way. His small body catapulted until it hit an adjacent booth, hitting his head in the process.

Confused and breathless, X suddenly became aware of the fact that he was sprawled on top of someone who had been laying on the bench of the booth. He felt a strange electrical charge surge through his body, and shook his head to try to come to his senses. His head cleared enough for him to realize that he was lying face down on top of a much larger man. He tried to push off of the man and could feel the hardness of his chest and the long, lean muscles in his arms. X’s confusion made him squirm to try to get away from the unfamiliar contact.

“Whoa, Angel. You need to stop all of the moving around on top of me like that unless you want to take this a little farther.” X paled when he heard the throaty words whispered into his ear. He pulled his head back and looked into the amused eyes of the man he was laying on. X quickly took in the fact that the man was beautiful - with dancing cat eyes, high cheek bones and a mischievous smile. His eyes were drawn to the man’s lips as he darted his tongue out to moisten his lips – an act done simply to entice X. When he tried to pull back, he felt arms encircle his back and hands caress his ass, pushing down so that he was grinding against the stranger. Without warning X felt his body react to the gesture. He felt himself getting hard against the stranger, and even worse – he felt the hardening of the stranger in response to him. 

X shoved against the man’s chest but could not break free from the arms around him. He couldn’t contain the low moan that came out when he felt the intoxicating rub of the man’s cock against his own. Underneath him, he heard the man echo his moan and whisper, “Little angel.” He was confused and suddenly had no idea what was going on – the music, the crowd and this beautiful man all added to his disorientation. He heard someone curse above him and without warning he was forcefully pulled off of the man and was standing on his own two feet. He turned to look at his savior and gasped when he met Lay’s eyes. 

“L-Lay, what are you doing…here?” He again shook his head in confusion and grabbed onto his head with both hands to try to clear his mind.

“Well, it looks like I’m saving you from some little good-for-nothing Level 1.” Lay glared behind him at the man he had just been unintentionally intimate with. X turned to look at the man again and felt as if the breath was knocked out of him. He noticed the intense glare of red from the man’s aura. His shocked eyes met the dark, amused eyes of the demon lying in front of him. Even worse – the demon’s eyes held a knowing look that made X want to run away and hide.

The eyes moved off of him and rested on Lay. “Hey, I was just laying here minding my own business when sexy, little Angel laid down on top of ME. It’s just like one of your kind to blame everything on the victim.” His eyes glared venom at Lay, who matched the look with equal intensity. “Truthfully, little Angel didn’t seem to mind too much anyway.” His sardonic eyes found X’s and he smirked at the look of horror in the angel’s eyes. 

X was suddenly pushed away from the booth that held the smirking demon. He let Lay steer him out of the club and onto the street. He was still confused as to why Lay was even there, but was having trouble forming any sort of coherent line of questioning. It didn’t matter since Lay took over the conversation for him. “Suho, are you all right? You took a hard hit back there. I saw you practically fly across the room and onto that…that…thing. You’re OK now aren’t you?”

X heard the concern in his friend’s voice. He nodded his head in response. “Lay what are you doing here? Where did you come from? I don’t understand why an Eradicator would be hanging out at a club like this. Wait – where are the novices.” He started to panic when he realized that he had no clue where his three charges were. He couldn’t leave them back there in the club alone. Not on their first night. 

Lay seemed to understand where his mind was going and reached over to rub his arm and calm him down.  
“It’s all right. I sent them home when things started to get out of control back there. I told them I’d take care of you and make sure you got home OK. What were you doing back there, Suho? That was a dangerous situation.”

The tone of his voice annoyed X enough that his senses suddenly cleared and he was able to think again. “Lay, you may be an Eradicator, but that doesn’t mean I’m a helpless novice. I have lots of experience with demons, too, you know. I would have had no trouble handling all of the demons in that club if it wasn’t for the fact that I hit my head and lost my bearing for a few minutes. I don’t need you watching over me as if I can’t take care of myself.”

“Well you didn’t seem to be doing a very good job. It was lucky I just happened to be close by to save you. Dammit, Suho, you were laying on top of that monster.”

X released air from between his clenched teeth and glared at Lay. “Like I said – I can take care of myself, Lay. It’s none of your business who I’m laying on top of. I’m going home now, and I suggest you do the same thing. And no – I don’t need your help getting home. I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself. I don’t need a big, bad Eradicator to take care of me.” With that he turned and marched towards his apartment leaving behind a stunned Lay who had never seen this bold side of his old friend.


	5. Hot and Bothered

X groaned as the demon’s tongue invaded his mouth. He could taste the sweetness of his desire. He moved his hands up the larger man’s back and ran his fingers through the soft, brown hair that was now glistening with perspiration. His seemed to have little control of his hands as they moved over the demon’s solid frame. The movement of the demon’s lips and tongue over his neck brought him to the brink of losing all control. The soft moan of “Angel” made him arch his back to move his body against the demon’s.

He felt the demon’s hand reach down to caress his cock through his pants. He pushed himself into the large hand and mumbled, ‘Please touch me, don’t stop.” The hand became bolder and quickly unzipped his pants and reached in to grab his cock and slide his hand over him. The man quickened the movement and X could feel his body respond by moving against the hand encircling him. He felt as if his whole body was on fire and that he would soon explode with the overwhelming feeling.

With a loud moan, X’s eyes flew open to stare at the ceiling above his bed. He could still feel the demon’s hands on him. Could still feel his body reacting to his touch. The desire he felt was nothing he had ever experienced before. He buried his face in his pillow when the wave of longing hit him. What the hell was going on? It was becoming a nightly habit that he had dreamed of the demon. What was wrong with him?

X quickly jumped out of bed and went to take a cold shower. The water pouring over him helped to calm him physically, but did very little to ease the ache he felt in his heart. He decided that what he really needed was a long, intense workout. He needed to burn off some of the energy that was causing him to have such intense feelings. Just thinking about his dreams sent a jolt of embarrassment rushing through him. He dressed quickly, grabbed his keys and rushed past the astonished faces of his three roommates.

Xiumin shook his head as he watched X leave the house. “He’s been acting really strange since he hit his head. He needs to relax a little more. Working all day then training us at night. Maybe we should all go out tonight. Something that will help him relax. I need to go into the club to meet with a few people tonight anyway. How about we all go?” He turned to look at his friends who nodded in agreement.

 

Getting X to go along with their plans for the night was harder than they thought it would be. The older angel whined about wanting to stay home and rest. All three of the junior angels refused to hear his whines and insisted upon the outing. They all felt the need of some recreation and release from the everyday stresses that came with living on Earth. THey had all been working without a real break for almost two weeks - they all needed this. 

As they entered the club, Xiumin greeted the bouncer who was standing next to the entry. He had already explained to his roommates that he had hired a man who specialized in martial arts – something that the club sorely needed. Xiumin decided he wanted no repeats of the night when X had gotten hurt. The young bouncer was tall and good looking and fit in well with the character he wanted for the club.

Kris rolled his eyes when he noticed that the new bouncer held X’s hand a little too long and gave him an appreciative stare. He glared at the bouncer and pushed X forward out of his grasp. The man shot him back an annoyed look. 

“Nice Kris, just hate on my new employee right away. Can’t you at least try to get along with him?” Xiumin shook his head at his slightly standoffish friend.

“I don’t like the way he looks. He looks like he can’t be trusted. He’s sneaky looking.” He glanced back over his shoulder at the tall young man.

“I check out my employees very well, thank you. ZTao has an impeccable reputation. I really need him and you’d better not do anything to chase him away.” He waved his finger at the much taller man who just shook his head in response. “Hey here’s a booth that’s free.” Xiumin led them over to the right side of the club and watched the angels sit before he went to meet up with his appointment.

X slowly perused the club noticing who was there – and also who was not there. He noticed Kris’s attention had returned to the young bouncer. “You should stop worrying so much about the human. We really need to be worried more about the demons. If Xiu said he checked this Tao guy out, then I’m sure he’s OK.” 

“Yeah, the demons are out in full force tonight.” Luhan pointed to the opposite side of the club where they could see a cluster of women standing near the four “TV” demons. The tallest demon and the youngest were both grinding against the small group of women. The whole group was loud and obnoxious – and also very popular.

X checked out the young women who seemed to always be surrounding the beautiful demons. He was startled when he looked into the eyes of the demon from his dreams. The man smirked at him, took hold of the hand of a girl standing by his side, and headed to the back of the club. A sharp flicker of annoyance shot through X before he could stop it. He turned around in his seat and tried to focus on the different clusters in the club. Much to his continued annoyance he was restless and decided to walk around to see what was happening.

Unconsciously he began to drift towards the back of the club. A small narrow hall led back to the bathrooms. As he walked down the hall he heard rustling from the side hallway that led outside. He turned in the dim light and saw a tall figure with his back to the wall, his head thrown back and his hands gripping the wall. X walked forward and only then noticed the young woman on her knees in front of the demon. She had her mouth around his cock and was greedily sucking and moving in rhythm. 

X froze and tried to backtrack without being noticed. He froze when he heard a hoarse, “Angel.” He looked up and met the eyes of the demon. “Angel, have you come to join in?” The demon had moved his hands onto the head of the young woman and was helping her move her head up and down. X shot him a look of pure disgust.

“You need to stop this right now. You’re pathetic – manipulating a human’s mind just so you can get pleasure. You need to let her go.” X realized that his command was having little effect on the demon. He moved in to touch the demon’s arm so that he could have more control over him. 

As X reached out, the demon pushed his arm away. “Don’t touch me, Angel. I’m not going to be toyed with by one of you tonight. Don’t try to manipulate my mind.” He glared at X.

X turned to face the woman, “You need to go now. You need to get your friend and go home for the night.” He watched as the young woman stopped what she had been doing and stood up to leave. The demon was staring at him the whole time this was talking to the girl. X turned to him, “Sorry to break up your little pleasure manipulation. Using a human for your own pleasure with no thought to what they want or need – it’s disgusting.”

“I guess that depends on your perspective. For me, I quite enjoyed it. I don’t think it was disgusting at all.” As he was talking the demon rather roughly straightened himself up and placed his wet cock back into his pants. “And just for the record – I didn’t manipulate anyone. I don’t need to. They ask for it and I just comply.” 

For a moment X was rendered speechless, but soon caught his bearings. “Even if I believed that it still doesn’t excuse the fact that she came with you because she hoped for more. She came because she wanted to be with you. But you only came back here for your own pleasure. You didn’t want to be with her – you only wanted what she could do for you.”

“You’re right, my little Angel.” X caught his breath as the demon moved to stand behind him. He could feel his breath on the back of his neck as he leaned in closer to talk to him. X tried hard to keep himself from trembling when he smelled the musky, sweet odor of the man behind him. “I did use her, and I didn’t want to be with her in particular. The one I wanted to be with was unavailable. The one whose mouth I wanted on my cock would never kneel down on their knees at the back of a club. The one who I want to move my cock in and out of doesn’t even know what he wants. But I’ll wait for him to beg me for it. I’ll wait to feel him tremble underneath me and plead with me to go deeper. Until then, I only have him in my dreams.” With that, the demon brushed his body against X as he walked past him and went back to meet his friends. 

X leaned his head against the wall and tried to compose himself. His breathing was ragged and uneven. His body was on fire and he could feel the blood pounding in his veins. Why was this happening to him? He had been around many beautiful and sexy people and had never reacted like this. He covered his eyes with both hands and leaned against the wall for support.

“X are you all right?” He heard Luhan’s voice break through his thoughts. “Is it your head again? Maybe we need to go back home. It might have been too soon for you to come back out.” X heard the worry and caring in his friend’s voice. 

He turned towards Luhan and smiled, “No, Luhan, I’m fine. We can stay a little longer. I know that you three were excited about coming out tonight. Come on let’s go back to the table.” He led the way out of the hallway and across the floor to their table. The whole time he felt a pair of eyes following him as he walked. It was impossible for him to ignore the feeling or pretend that something wasn’t going on.

Back at the table he noticed that Xiumin had invited a young man to sit with them. “Aahh, Luhan, X – this is Jongdae. He’s the Maître D’ at my restaurant. The two angels shook hands with the young man as they sat down at the table. X could not help but notice that Xiu was sitting a little too close to Jongdae then was natural. He knew it was his job to talk to Xiumin about possible consequences of going down that road. But for once, X did not feel as if he had the right to lecture the young angel. Not with how things stood right now.

“I don’t like the way that demon keeps looking over here and glaring at you, X. Did you have a run-in with him or something?” Kris pointed towards the opposite side of the club. X didn’t even bother to look across the room. He knew who it was, but he didn’t want to see those eyes on him. 

X shook his head, “No, he’s a demon, we’re angels. That’s enough.”

Later that night he awoke bathed in sweat. He could feel the demon. He could smell the demon. He could taste the demon. Again.


	6. Realizations

“Dr. Xiao, you have a new patient in Room 18,” the nurse’s voice brought X back from his deep thoughts. He shook himself and was glad that he was able to stay busy today. His thoughts had been wandering to places better left alone. Making his way to Room 18, he went through the new mantra in his head. He had made it up to keep his thoughts away from places it shouldn’t go.

Entering the room, he spotted the nurse standing over the patient. She was laughing at something the patient had said. “Good afternoon, Nurse Wessley, what do we have here?”

The nurse looked up and smiled at the doctor. “Oh, it’s nothing too serious, Doctor. Just a patient who cut his leg in an unusual spot. He keeps making excuses as to why I can’t take a look at it. He wants only a male doctor to look at it.” She smiled as she said the words. “I’ll just step out while you take a look at Mr. Kim.”

X shook his head at the absurdity of the patient. He turned towards him and came to a complete halt, unable to find his own voice. The demon turned towards him and flashed a smile, “Hi, Doc. No need to call me Mr. Kim - Kai will suffice.”

X could feel himself beginning to get warm. He knew that he was probably turning red, but he couldn’t control his own reaction. “What in hell are you doing here?” He spat the words out through clenched teeth.

“Tsk,tsk, little Angel. Those aren’t very kind words from a doctor, much less an angel. You really shouldn’t treat your patient so bad. I expected better bedside manner from you.”

“But you’re not my patient, Mr. Kim. You’re a demon – you don’t even need a doctor.”

“But that’s where you’re wrong, Angel. I have this very real, very human body – and it needs fixed. I got into a small accident. Bike, fire hydrant – you get the idea, huh?” He pointed down to his jeans which had a large circle of blood on the right inner thigh.

X’s eyes got wide as he looked down at the bloody spot. “You’re hurt! How bad is it? Take those jeans off right now.” X had immediately switched into doctor mode, although he felt a little more panicked about the injury of this particular patient.

“Hmm, I kind of like to hear you saying that. Can you repeat that last direction?” The demon raised his eyebrows at him.

“I said take off those jeans right…” X stopped when he realized what he had just said. “Stop it. Stop it right now.” He pointed at his patient. “Just let me take care of this without any problems. Please.” He waited as his patient nodded in concurrence. 

X helped the demon remove his jeans. He noticed the sharp intake of breath and how he suddenly went pale as the jeans were slipped over his thigh. The right thigh had been torn open and had a jagged wound about 5 inches in length. Luckily it was a fairly shallow wound and bleeding was at a minimum. 

“This should be fairly easy to stitch up, even though it is kind of jagged. How could you have hit a fire hydrant?” X had turned into Dr. Xiao and was able to work efficiently to help his patient. He could feel from the way the demon held his body that he was in pain. “Do you need some pain medication?”

When there was no answer, X looked up into his patient’s face. When he met his eyes, he felt as if the world had come to a halt and they were the only two people present. The demon was looking at him with an intense look of longing and desire. X could feel himself being transported to that same spot.

“My sexy, little Angel.” The words uttered in a hoarse whisper hit X right in the heart. “Just say my name, Angel. Just call me Kai once so I can hear you. I need that. I need you to say it for me.”

X was transfixed by those eyes and could not deny him anything at the moment, “Kai. Kai, I…” he stopped talking as he felt the demon’s fingertips tracing over his lips. He closed his eyes at the feeling and could hear his heart beating sharply inside his chest.

“Say it again – just one more time.”

Kai kept his fingers on the doctor’s lips as he whispered his name one more time. He gently placed his hand under his chin and raised his face up so that their eyes met. Neither were able to speak; they could only look at each other. X watched in what seemed slow motion as Kai lowered his mouth to meet X’s in a gentle, brushing of lips. Both were jolted by the immediate shot of electricity and feeling that shot through their bodies at the touch of their lips. X quietly moaned the name, “Kai..”.

A loud noise tore through the quiet room. They quickly broke apart when they heard the commotion outside of the door. “I don’t care what the patient wants, Nurse, I’m going into that room now.”

X was shocked to hear Lay’s voice coming from behind the door. Both he and Kai looked up as Lay and Kris entered the room in a rush. Lay took one look at the patient lying on the table and seemed to explode. “What the hell are you doing here, demon? And why don’t you have any pants on? I swear I’m going to take care of you once and for all.”

At these words, X seemed to find his voice, “Lay what are you talking about? This is my patient you’re threatening here. What’s wrong with you?”

“What’s wrong with me? You’re standing over that demon and he’s half naked – he could do anything to you. And you ask what’s wrong with me?” He glared at Kai and looked very much like he wanted to get rid of the demon once and for all. “He’s a demon, X. You don’t go around treating demons. It would be better to eradicate him right now.”

Both Kris and X sucked in their breath when they heard these words from Lay. “Are you crazy, Lay? He’s a Level 1. It’s strictly forbidden and you know it. There’s no reason to even harm a Level 1.” X turned his eyes to Kris and they shared a troubled look. “What made you two come here anyway? I’m here treating patients every day and you never stop by. Why are you here?”

“It’s just Luhan transported the patient and he recognized him. He messaged Kris and I happened to be talking to him at the time. I just didn’t want you alone with a demon.”

“Lay – we’ve had this conversation before – I don’t need your assistance to take care of demons. I’ve been doing this by myself for some time and I do not need help from you. In fact, you need to stay out of our business and handle just Eradicator business. I’m perfectly capable of treating my patients whether they’re demons or humans or angels. Now get out of this room so I can finish fixing my patient.”

“I’ll leave, X, but I’m standing outside this door until that one leaves. I don’t care how mad you get.” Lay turned around and walked out of the room. Kris slowly followed, not sure what he should do. Before he cleared the door he looked back one last time. His eyes got big as he saw the demon slowly trail the back of his fingers along the side of X’s face in a gentle caress. He whipped his head around and left the room before either noticed his gaze on them.

X cried out as he felt Kai moving inside of him. He could do nothing but move along with the rhythm of the demon. Of Kai. This was all that he wanted. The only thing he desired. 

Suddenly their lovemaking was interrupted by a loud scream and someone barging into the room. X looked up to see Lay standing in front of him with anger and hatred in his eyes. “I will eradicate him right now! Move out of the way X.”

X stood up and shielded Kai with his body. He breathed deeply as he faced off against Lay. Lay had been trained to kill off demons. He had heard that he was one of the best. But X could not stand by and watch Lay hurt Kai. Not Kai. 

X awoke with a start and instantly remembered his dream. He felt the feeling of horror wash over him. He suddenly stopped what he was doing and fell to his knees. “Dear God please help me,” his anguish was evident as he choked out the last words, “I’m in love with a demon. God save my soul!”


	7. Games

“You want me to do what?” Tao threw an incredulous look towards the police officer. “I really don’t understand you Kris Wu.”

 

“You don’t have to understand me, you just need to help me out.”

 

“And why would I do that? I don’t know how any of this benefits me at all. And why would you come and ask me for favors – after all you’ve made it perfectly clear that you don’t like me.”

 

“I don’t…hate you. But you did show some interest in X a little while back. I’m just giving you an open door to pursue that interest.”

 

“As if I would need your permission to pursue someone,” he scoffed at the tall man. “And I remember you being all upset when I showed interest in X. I figured you wanted him for yourself.”

 

“No, it’s not like that at all. X is my friend and mentor. I do love him – and that’s why you just have to do this one thing. Just tonight. Please, Tao, I really do need your help. I’ll give you one future claim – I mean within reason.”

 

Tao took the time to think about what Kris had just said. He knew that a future claim was a big deal. He eyed the tall man thinking about what he would request from him. “Giving a future claim is pretty hard core. What if you don’t like my claim?”

 

“I swear I’ll honor your claim, Tao. You just have to do this tonight. I already checked and I know it’s your night off.”

 

“Yeah, and now I have to spend my night off back at this place. I swear Wu, you’d better keep your promise.”

 

“So that means you’ll do it?” Tao could see the relief in the tall man’s eyes. What was really going on here? Why was it so important to Wu?

 

“Yeah, I’ll…whatever. I don’t get it, but I’ll do my best.” He shook his head in confusion.

 

“OK, tonight. Be here at 9:00. See you then, Tao.” He walked off quickly to return to work as Tao’s eyes followed him out of the building.

 

X agreed to go to the club with his three charges, despite the fact that the thought made him nervous and excited at the same time. He knew the angels needed the training that the club would give them, otherwise he would have refused to go. He had avoided any contact with Kai since the fiasco at the hospital. He knew he had to stay away from the demon. Despite this realization, he also knew that he had no control of his subconscious, which meant he was receiving nightly visits from him in his dreams. Waking up every morning yearning for the other was starting to drive him slightly mad.

 

As they entered the club, they could hear the heavy beat of the music and the loud voices of people enjoying themselves. X’s eyes were instantly drawn to all the demons in the room. Again the club was filled with them. He noticed that the three novice angels had taken notice of all of the activity also. He noticed the tall, good looking demon walk past him and his eyes followed him to the other side of the room as he joined his peers. They were again at the center of a group of people.

 

Before he could avert his eyes, X watched a tall, willowy woman who was half dressed move over to the table and sit on one of the demon’s laps. She reached her arms up and put them around the neck of the demon and started to move her lips over his neck. The demon turned his head, lifted his eyes and stared right into X’s surprised eyes. Kai.

 

He quickly turned his head to look at his friends. He noticed that Kris was staring at him intently, but had no idea why he was receiving this attention from him. Before he had a chance to delve further into the situation, he felt a hand on his shoulder. Startled, he looked up to see Tao smiling down at him. “Hi, guys. Do you mind if I sit with you? It’s my day off.” When they all smiled and nodded, he crammed himself into the seat next to X, almost sitting on top of him.

 

X tried to scoot over to give Tao more room, but Kris was sitting on his other side stopping him from moving over. Tao meanwhile had slipped his arm around the back of the booth so that he had a little more room. X was confused by the man’s nearness, but didn’t make an issue out of it since nobody else seemed to even notice. As the men sat talking, Tao began to do little things that made X feel even more confused: touching his arm as they talked, running his hand gently over the hair at the nape of his neck and leaning in close to him. X could see Luhan throw an inquisitive glance towards him. X just raised his shoulders at the unasked question.

 

“Look at them. Always making a scene and doing it so loudly that everyone has to notice,” Xiumin jerked his head towards the dance floor. X turned to see the TV Demons in the middle of the crowded floor. They were loudly singing and dancing and doing obscene things to the women around them, who seemed to enjoy the attention. X watched as the one with the lip chain pushed down one of the women’s heads to his crotch and preceded to imitate a sex act on the dance floor. Xiumin snorted in disgust. “This one’s mine. That’s just going too far.” He looked to X for affirmation and X nodded his head.

 

The others watched as Xiumin walked to the middle of the floor and started talking to the demon. The demon snarled and threw an angry look at Xiumin, who continued to lecture him in a restrained voice. Finally, the demon threw up his hands in disgust and walked back to his table. Xiumin returned to the table with a look of triumph on his face. “Wow, it really worked. I was able to control him.”

 

“What are you talking about?” Tao looked at him and then at the others. After 30 seconds of silence, he let the unanswered question go and turned towards the others, “Hey, let’s go dance a little and have some fun.” He looked over at Kris who gave a faint nod. “Come on, X.” Tao grabbed X’s hand and propelled him onto the dance floor. He started dancing closer to him then X was comfortable with, but he didn’t really know how to get away from the situation – short of walking off the dance floor and leaving Tao out there alone. However, when Tao started to grind against his ass, he had the thought to do just that as he put more distance between them.

 

X began to dance, but made sure to keep as far away from Tao as possible, which was difficult on the crowded dance floor. Suddenly, Tao was pushed to the side by a quickly moving body. “Man – sorry. I need to pay attention to where I’m going. You all right?” X looked up to see Tao bent over and Kai faking concern for him. Kai flashed an angry look at X. _What the hell? He hadn’t done anything wrong._

 

“Yeah, that’s OK.” Tao was bent over trying to catch his breath. “I’m fine, but I think I need to go sit down.” Tao headed slowly back towards the table. X followed him his mind trying to wrap around what had just happened. When they got to the table, Tao slipped into the booth in pain. The others looked at him in concern and questioned him about what happened. “I’m OK, I just got bashed in the stomach.” There were actual tears in Tao’s eyes and he leaned into Kris for support. Kris gave him a strange look, but didn’t move away.

 

X didn’t bother to sit down, knowing that he was too restless to be still. He informed the others that he was going to use the restroom and started to walk to the back of the club. X wasn’t paying too much attention to his surroundings, as his mind was still going over the events of the last 10 minutes. As he passed the hall that led to the back of the club, a hand snaked out and grabbed him, pulling him roughly down the hall and out the back door before he could even discern what was happening.

 

“What the hell are you doing, demon?” X scowled at Kai who stood in front of him with his hands folded tightly across his chest.

 

“What the hell am I doing? No – what the FUCK are you doing, Angel? Why the fuck is that blonde puppy all over you? He keeps putting his hands on you and looking at you like your god-damned candy he wants to eat. What’s going on there, Angel?” Kai ran his hands through his hair in disgust.

 

X’s eyes flew to the demon’s in surprise, “I don’t know what’s going on. I’m as surprised by that as you. He just kept…touching me. But – it doesn’t even matter. You have no say in who does or doesn’t touch me, Kai. I have to stay away from you – I have to. You’re a demon and we just…I just…can’t. It’s not right or natural. It just can’t work.” X realized that his voice was rising the more agitated he got, but he was unable to control his own emotions. “Besides which, you didn’t seem to be suffering so bad did you? You sure weren’t thinking about what I was doing when that girl was on your lap. I think I was the furthest thing from your mind.”

 

Kai turned around sharply to face X. He walked slowly and menacingly towards the smaller man. X backed up trying to keep his distance from the glaring demon. Unexpectedly, he hit the brick wall of the club and came to an instant halt. Kai, however, continued to advance, never taking his eyes off of X’s. As he got close to the angel he put his hands on the wall on either side of X’s head. And still he continued to move forward. He moved until his body was crushed against X’s.

 

His voice was low and hoarse when he spoke, “Little Angel, do you feel how my body responds to you? Do you really think I haven’t been thinking about you? Every fucking minute of the day is spent thinking about you. Even my nights are filled with you. This is what you do to me, Angel. X. And every time I turn around there’s someone else trying to get your attention. You’re a God damned Angel. There shouldn’t be all these people trying to touch you.” He again ran his hands through his hair in agitation. “Don’t you even feel anything when I touch you? It’s just me?” His voice dropped at the end in disappointment and confusion.

 

X’s heart skipped a beat as he heard this confession and the pain in the demon’s voice. Why did he make him feel like this? Why was the only one who ever made him feel like this a demon? All of the people and angels that he’d had chances to be with – and yet none of them made his heart and body ache and react like this demon. Why? He looked up into Kai’s face and couldn’t stop the words from leaving, “I-I feel the same when you touch me, Kai.” As he was talking he could not stop his hands from moving up the sides of the man in front of him. He slowly moved his hands under his shirt to feel bare skin. He moved his mouth over Kai’s and ran his tongue along his bottom lip, stopping to capture it between his teeth before releasing it and pulling back to look into the demon’s eyes.

 

“Ahh…shit…my sexy, little Angel.” X noticed that Kai could barely speak and was breathing rapidly. He was amazed that he had such a reaction on this beautiful man. Kai had closed his eyes and seemed almost in pain. He leaned in closer so that he was only inches away from X’s lips. “Angel, tell me that you want me. Tell me that you need me as bad as I need you. I need to hear you.” His voice and words made X shudder, and he felt himself start to tremble.

 

“Kai…” X could not tear his eyes away from the other’s. He could feel heat pounding through his body and the need for this man caused him to shudder uncontrollably. He didn’t know why he had no control over himself where Kai was concerned. His voice shook as he whispered, “Kai, I need you so bad. I need to feel your body against me, inside of me.” He could feel and hear the moan that came from Kai at his words. Kai’s hands moved to both sides of his face and he brought his lips down on X’s. They groaned in unison and X opened his mouth to allow Kai’s entrance. The taste was what he had been dreaming about every night. The demon tasted like heaven and hell and sex and purity and the taste almost drove X out of his mind.

 

As the kiss deepened, X reached around and grabbed Kai’s ass pushing his hard cock against his own. In the back of his mind he felt warning signals go off, but was unable to listen to them. Stopping now was impossible. His body needed this and he couldn’t deny himself this feeling. When had he ever felt this way? He slowly moved his hands under the waistband of Kai’s jeans, skimming across the V line and moving his fingers down.

 

“Oh, fuck! Angel-ah…”

 

Suddenly the back door burst open causing the two men to instantly stop what they were doing. Both pairs of eyes flew towards the door to settle upon a livid Kris. “What the hell! Move away from him demon! You have no right to be touching him.”

 

X heard Kai swear under his breath. “Go away! This is none of your business.” His voice was controlled, but X could hear the anger in his tones.

 

X’s voice was hoarse, but still held authority as he spoke to the tall angel, “Kris, you need to leave. I’ll be right in and we’ll talk…later. But you need to go.”

 

“No, I’m not going anywhere. The minute I go back in there you two will start up again. I know what’s going to happen if I leave. I saw it before. I tried to get Tao to make you think differently, but that didn’t work…”

 

“Wait – you’re the reason that puppy was all over X?” Kai’s voice was hard and held a note of menace in it. “You really need to stay out of this and mind your own business.”

 

“This _is_ my business. You are a DEMON!! You shouldn’t even be touching an angel. Suho is too good for you, can’t you see that? There are _angels_ that he’s too good for. He’s everything good and caring and just. And here he is breaking rules because of you. He doesn’t even break the normal rules that everyone else does. It’s all because of you. It’s all your fault and you need to just leave him alone.”

 

X watched as the words hit Kai and the demon’s aura began to change, began to weaken and dull. He turned quickly on Kris. “Kris, I will not say it again. Go. Back.  Inside.” He stared at the junior angel who seemed to shrink in his gaze. Confused, Kris backed up and bolted back into the club.

 

X watched the battle that was displayed on Kai’s face and in his ebbing aura. He knew the demon was going through some turmoil because of what Kris had just said. He reached out to touch Kai’s face. Kai flinched but did not pull away from his touch. “Kai what’s going on? Why are you letting that get to you so much?”

 

“Angel, I can’t even…he’s right. I’m nowhere near good enough for you. You’re _good_ and I’m not. Everything that’s good I just ruin and destroy. I can’t destroy you. You said it earlier. And now he said it, too. We can’t be together.” X could see the grief and emotion in Kai’s eyes. It shouldn’t hurt him to see a demon struggling with good and bad. It shouldn’t even faze him. But it did.

 

He reached up to touch the demon’s face, trying to take away the suffering he was going through. He turned Kai’s face to meet his own. “Kai, I don’t know what could happen with us. It is breaking the unwritten rules, but my feelings for you are…pure. I mean what I want to do with you might not be so virtuous, but it comes from pure feelings. I’m not going to give up on this because you and I both know that what is happening between us is different. It’s not going to go away anytime soon. Kai, look at me, dammit!”

 

He watched as Kai balled his fists to gain some control over his emotions. “Fuck it!” His aura began to glow a dark red.  “I don’t know what to say. Even now I have to force myself not to touch you. You need to just go in before he comes back out and brings the baby faced angels and the blond puppy along to help him.” X could see Kai fighting a battle with himself. Then unexpectedly as if driven by some unknown force, he grabbed the small angel behind his head, wound his fingers through his hair and drew his mouth to his own. “You taste so damn good I’ll be dreaming about this all night long. Shit! I AM a demon, right? Maybe I should just act like one and take what I want – that’s what demons do without question.”

 

He quickly drew X too him, moved his mouth down to a spot hidden by his shirt and left a red mark there, as if to brand X as his own. Kai couldn’t explain the pleasure he felt in leaving the mark on the angel. He ran his finger over the spot and bent down to press his lips to it, staring straight into the angel’s eyes as if daring him to protest.

 

X’s eyes gleamed as he lowered his mouth to Kai’s neck. Not so gently he bit him in an area that would be visible to anyone. He slowly moved his lips against the area and sucked fiercely as Kai gasped in surprise. He pulled back to look at the mark, feeling a sense of pride and possession.

 

For a brief minute they looked into each other’s eyes as if unable to look away. Then without warning, Kai coughed, turned X around and shoved him through the door. He could see the tall figure of Kris on the other side. Upon the closing of the door, he turned around and punched the brick wall. He could feel no pain as he looked down at the blood pooling on his knuckles. The only pain he felt overpowered any physical pain.


	8. The Mark

X groaned and roughly rolled over in the bed. He was getting tired of waking up with a raging hard-on and an out of control heartbeat. These nightly dreams were getting hotter and hotter, and he was getting more and more sexually frustrated by them. He pounded the pillow several times before coming to the realization that he was not going to be able to get back to sleep anytime soon. 

Heading to the shower, he decided that making breakfast for the other angels would help him to keep his mind off of the demon. The shower helped him physically, but he still remained a wreck emotionally. His mind could not get around the fact that they were in a very tough situation. He shook his head and tried to clear all of these thoughts away as he entered the kitchen.

X quickly moved around the kitchen gathering ingredients for his special bacon, spinach, and mushroom quiche. He knew that it was Luhan’s favorite, and the others enjoyed it also. He had his back turned as he started to chop the shallots, but heard someone enter the kitchen from behind him. Turning around, he was shocked to see not one of the angels, but a shirtless man, who stopped short when he saw X in the kitchen.

As he stared at him, a pink tinge crept up the man’s body from his waistband to his cheeks. He raised his hand and gave X a small, silent wave. 

“Jongdae, right?” X questioned the young man.

“Umm, yes. You’re X. I think you’re the person I was supposed to be avoiding. Didn’t do too well at that, huh?” He moved to the cupboard to get a glass – as if he had been in the kitchen before and knew his way around. Jongdae seemed to miss the suggestive raising of X’s eyebrow. “You need any help? I’m not much of a cook, but I can follow orders. With two people the food will be done faster, and I’m starving. Worked up an appetite last night, you know?” He winked at X.

X’s mouth dropped open. Just when had he lost control in his own house? He was saved from responding to Jongdae by the loud buzzing of the doorbell. He put down the knife and walked towards the door, looking briefly over his shoulder at the shirtless man who was now fooling around with the coffee maker in an attempt to get it working. 

Pulling the door open, X was surprised to see Lay’s face smiling at him. For a few seconds he just stared at the Eradicator wondering why he was standing outside of his house. 

“Suho? Can I come in?” Lay waved his hand in front of the other angel’s face.

“Well, sure, but why are you…”

“Kris and I are going hiking. He told me to come over at this time. Where is he?” He looked past X and noticed the shirtless Jongdae in the kitchen. Before X had a chance to move, Lay had rushed past him.

“Who are you? Why are you in X’s kitchen with no clothes on?” Lay moved towards Jongdae and put his hand on his shoulder. Surprised, Jongdae pulled away and gave the Eradicator a strange look.

“Oh?” Lay got a smile on his face. “I see. That’s all good then.” He nodded at Jongdae and smiled. Jongdae again stared at him and shook his head in bewilderment. 

“What do you mean? Who are you and what are you talking about?” There was confusion all over Jongdae’s face.

X read the situation quickly and seethed at what Lay has just done. “What is the matter with you Lay? You just come into my house and think it’s OK to read my guest? That’s not your place.” X knew his voice was loud but his anger made him lose his usually well maintained self-control. And Lay just made him so angry.

“I’m over here as Kris’s guest. I didn’t do anything wrong. Reading a human doesn’t hurt them, Suho.” Lay shrugged his shoulders as he stared at X.

“What are you guys talking about? Why is he calling you Suho? What do you mean reading a human? Who calls people humans anyway?” Jongdae was practically yelling so that somebody would listen to him. All X saw was a blur and then Xiumin’s arms were wrapped around Jongdae from behind. He turned and noticed that Kris and Luhan had also appeared in the kitchen.

“What’s with all the noise and yelling? Why are you guys getting my…getting Jongdae upset?” Xiumin looked between Lay and X.

X turned towards the three angels and pointed at the Eradicator. “Because Lay just comes barging in here reading your boyfriend and calling him a human to his face.” 

“Calling me a…”

“You did what to my boyfriend? Did you put your hands on him?” Xiumin turned to Jongdae, “Did he put his hands on you?”

“He just touched my shoulder. But how did you know?” Jongdae’s voice was confused and irritated at the same time.

“So as an Eradicator you think you can just put your hands on…”

“I just wanted to find out why this half naked human was in X’s kitchen! I didn’t hurt anyone.”

“Why do you care who’s in my kitchen?” There was mass confusion as everyone spoke at the same time and tempers flared.

“STOP!” Kris’s voice created a pause in the chaos. “We all have to remember that Jongdae is just an innocent in this conversation.”

“Who are you calling innocent?” Jongdae turned towards Kris offended.

A sudden snicker followed by loud giggles echoed through the kitchen. Everyone turned to watch as Luhan fell against the wall, unable to contain his glee. Noticing the questioning looks, he managed to squeak out “We’re for real, like a human reality show or something. Everyone getting mad and talking at the same time. This never happens up in…” Before he could finish the sentence, Kris quickly pushed him to shut him up. As Luhan fell to the floor still laughing, everyone seemed to calm down.

The kitchen dropped into awkward silence as everyone just stared at each other. Finally, X broke the silence. “I’m going to finish making breakfast. Jongdae you can finish making the coffee. Xiumin and Luhan you can help me with the food. Kris and Lay you can set the table.” He turned to get working without a thought as to whether his orders would be followed or not. The others seemed to be glad to put the incident behind them and got busy doing their assigned tasks.

An hour later, with everyone fed and in better moods, the men converged on the kitchen to clean up. X noticed that Jongdae was still struggling with the coffee maker. “The pot gets stuck in there all the time, Jongdae, you just have to pull hard – but be careful.” He watched as Jongdae struggled with the machine. Xiumin went over to try to help him remove the coffee pot. 

With both of them pulling on the pot, it suddenly became unstuck and hot coffee flew across the kitchen straight towards X who was turned around loading the dishwasher. He let out a yelp as the hot coffee landed on his back. Jongdae’s training as a Maitre D’ went into action and he was the first to respond by rushing over to X.

“Oh my God, X, take off that shirt! Xiumin get some ice – quick!” He rushed to help X pull the shirt over his head. There were red marks on X’s back, but they were quickly disappearing in front Jongdae’s baffled eyes. Kris saw what was going on and quickly rushed over, grabbing the ice pack from Xiumin as he crossed the room. He turned X around so that his back was not visible to Jongdae, and placed the ice pack against his back. Everything happened so fast that X’s head was spinning. He did manage to hear the sudden gasp that came from Lay, however.

He looked over at Lay with curious eyes, and noticed that everyone’s eyes in the kitchen were on him. Luhan’s mouth had dropped open and he was staring at X’s chest. X saw anger in Lay’s eyes and disgust in Kris’s. He looked down to his chest where everyone’s gaze seemed to be focused. The memory of Kai sucking and biting his chest flooded back to him. He instantly felt a flush of pleasure when thinking about how the mark had gotten there and who had put it there. But looking at the mark, he also realized that it was obvious exactly what it was and how it had gotten there. It was also obvious to the other angels that he did not even attempt to remove the mark - he had chosen to let it heal in normal time. 

He looked up to take in all of the eyes. Jongdae was the only one smiling. His sparkling eyes showed his delight at the scene before him in the kitchen. He was doing his best to hold back laughter. The room was very quiet, then as if on cue, everyone started talking at the same time.

“Is there something we don’t know about?”

“What the hell is that and how did it get there?”

“I knew it – see I knew it.”

“Wow! I had no clue that you were…”

The jumble of voices brought X back to his senses. He refused to cover up and hide the mark since it was really none of any of their businesses anyway. He looked each of them in the eye and dared them to say anything else. Everyone’s voices stopped as they met his gaze. The junior angels began to squirm slightly under his unwavering look. 

Lay averted his eyes but decided to go on with his train of thought. “So where exactly did that come from Suho? I can’t believe you’re sneaking around behind everyone’s back and seeing someone. What kind of example is that? No wonder he was in your kitchen half naked this morning.” He pointed a finger at Jongdae, which made Xiumin go rigid with anger. 

“Why are you so interested in my life all of a sudden, Lay? You’re always so concerned with what I’m doing wrong. Stay out of my business once and for all. You’ll always be my friend, but you’re not my guardian or my boss. It’s time for you and Kris to go now.” He gave Kris a pointed look that communicated all kinds of unspoken messages – the main one being to keep his mouth shut about Kai. Kris glared at him, but nodded his head in compliance. He moved towards the door and grabbed onto Lay’s arm as he left, forcing the other to follow him.

Kris opened the door, pulling Lay along with him. Suddenly Lay stopped, looked back at X and stated, “Maybe I don’t want to be your friend. Did you ever think of that?” Then quickly turning around, he strolled through the door and shut it behind him.

X got an annoyed look on his face. Lay really wanted to end their friendship over a hickey? The Eradicator was a notorious playboy, well known throughout heaven for his sexual escapades. But he was mad at X for one little hickey. Well, maybe it wasn’t too little actually. X shook his head and threw up his hands. Honestly. When had he lost control?

The angels began to move around and attempt to curb the awkwardness of the situation. X watched as Xiumin led Jongdae out of the kitchen towards his room. He was able to hear their conversation as they left.

“Xiu you never told me that your family was so interesting. That was so much fun.” The man was practically bouncing with joy. “But I don’t understand everything. Who is Suho? And why were you mad that Lay touched my shoulder? Why did he call me a human? And what does reading someone mean? Did you see how X’s back healed so quickly? How did that happen? I don’t…” 

X couldn’t help but smile at all of the questions coming out of the young man. Well, it was Xiumin’s boyfriend – he had to deal with all of the questions by himself. His mind suddenly turned to think about Kai. He was already missing the demon, and knew he would have to figure out ways to see him. Despite all of the mess and anger the hickey had caused, X wouldn’t have changed a thing. He actually liked the fact that Kai had marked him as his own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for such a short chapter, but I will try to update again soon. Thanks for reading! Leave comments if you would like to offer any suggestions.


	9. Discovered

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So thanks you Bluefirefly for kind of kicking my butt into gear here. I had been thinking about this fic and knew I needed to update - even though I am working on other things. Your comment was what made me actually stop and realize I needed to do this. And the best part was that in the middle of taking a shower and thinking about this story, I got a slight epiphany and have a newish sort of direction to follow. SO, I promise that there will be more coming soon.

Sehun’s eyes swung up to Kai as he entered the kitchen after his quick shower, his smirk and low snigger drawing the attention of both Chanyeol and Baekhyun who were sitting on the counter feeding each other sticky buns and licking their fingers suggestively. Kai rolled his eyes at the two young men – disgusting always. After looking up at him, both of the demons began chuckling along with Sehun, who was turning red from trying to hold in the laughter.

 

“What’s your problem?” Kai threw them an annoyed look. Those two annoyed him on a daily basis. Why couldn’t they just try to act normal and…well, just normal.

 

“No problems here, love demon. We just thought you had rules about humans marking you up. You just seem to be all talk.” The shortest of the three pinned his gaze on Kai’s neck.

 

Kai looked down, noticing the dark red mark on his body, and felt his pulse increase as he remembered the heat from Angel’s mouth moving over his collarbone. He could almost feel his teeth skimming over his skin and smell the intoxicating scent that was purely X. Just the thought caused blood to rush south and make him semi-hard, causing his breathing to become more shallow and his pulse to slightly increase. 

 

“Really?” Baekhyun turned towards him eyebrows raised as he heard the increase in his heartbeat. The smirk on his face annoyed the hell out of Kai. “Oh my God. Unbelievable. Who the hell has you all worked up? Have we met her? I’ve never seen you so out of control. She must be something fucking else to make you lose it like this. You’re always so in-control in every relationship.”

 

“Fuck off, Baekhyun.” Kai made a gesture to him and turned his back on him. He could hear all three of the demons laughing at his reaction. He should have focused more on blocking his feelings from them. That angel seemed to make him forget even the basic survival techniques. He made a mental note to practice his reactions and his blocking. The thought of these guys knowing about his Angel – it just wasn’t right. He didn’t want them to think of X that way. He couldn’t let them find out.

 

“Just saying.” Baekhyun shrugged. “That’s your own personal human rule after all.”

 

Without thinking Kai blurted out, “Who said anything about humans?” Well, fuck. Fuck! He quickly realized his mistake and rushed to cover up his unfortunate slip. “What do we have for today?” 

 

“We’ve got 8 jobs lined up,” Sehun was perusing his iPad as he sat at the table. The mention of 8 jobs got the other two moaning and complaining. “What’s the pairing going to be?”

 

Kai quickly spoke up before anyone could say anything, “Sehun, you’re with me.” Kai didn’t dislike the other two for the most part, but he was annoyed by the way they acted. And he didn’t feel like dealing with either of their inquiries today. Because neither one of them could shut up or let anything go – he knew it would be a whole day of questions and suggestive remarks, and he wasn’t up to it. Sehun was a little different, and he felt a more protective bond towards the youngest demon even though that was not very demon-like. Of course, they all knew how Kai sucked at being a demon. He could be rude with the best of them, but he really didn’t have any desire to bother other people of create chaos – which was a Level 1’s main job.

 

“Eight? Isn’t that kind of excessive?” Chanyeol groaned as he hopped off the counter. “I’m not going into E. New York today. Or Brownsville. I did both of them yesterday and I got shot at in both places.”

 

“Having trouble controlling humans, Yeol? Do we need to go over the basics again?” Kai gave the demon a sideways glance to see his reaction. He wanted to annoy the tall man in an attempt to make him forget the mark and his body’s early morning reaction.

 

“Yah, screw you Kai. When they’re high or just plain old crazy – you can’t control them. And most the people in those neighborhoods fit that description. I’m not going today.” He flicked a quick finger at Kai and turned away.

 

Sehun looked at the list, “There’s only one in Brownsville. South Bronx, Bushwick… none of these places is too great. It’s the nature of the beast, Chanyeol. I can’t believe a demon is afraid of going into a human neighborhood.” Sehun had to be quick to duck as a sticky bun came flying at his head.

 

“We ARE only Level 1’s, you know. We only have so many tricks and gifts. We wouldn’t even need to work if we were Level 3 or 4. Even some Level 2’s don’t have to work regular jobs.”

 

“Are you saying you’d rather be a Level 3 or 4?” Kai couldn’t keep the censure out of his voice. Sometimes Chanyeol said the stupidest things.

 

Chanyeol’s face turned red quickly, and his voice became strangled, “No, I’m not saying that. I just…get tired of this job is all.” He glanced around the kitchen as if expecting someone to appear out of thin air.

 

“Just watch what you say, Chanyeol. Your mouth gets you into too much trouble. We wouldn’t want any unexpected visits.” With Kai’s words, the room suddenly became quiet as the four demons fidgeted nervously, looking around the room. A strange vibe filled the room and they all became vaguely uncomfortable.

 

“Yeah, I…yeah, you’re right.” 

 

“OK, enough of this doom and gloom stuff,” Baekhyun stuck his hand out and pulled one of the papers out of Sehun’s hand. He scanned the paper. “This is the last known address? Oooh, a BMW x5. That’ll be fun. Do we have any key codes?” 

 

“Everything’s on the data sheets. They’ve been downloaded into our documents. Last known address. Family and business addresses. All the usual.”

 

“All right. Let’s go make some money then.” All four of the demons left the house at the same time, splitting up when they got to the two cars parked in front of the brownstone. 

 

Kai couldn’t remember a time when he had more trouble focusing on the job at hand. He was unable to focus on anything for more than a few minutes at a time; his mind constantly wandering back to the feel of the angel against him and the intoxicating heat that moved through his body whenever he was near. This was not the usual way he was with a relationship. He never needed anyone for more than just the brief sexual release. This was different and he knew it. They knew it. But why? What was going on and why had this happened so quickly and so decisively. Why was the thought of not being near the Angel so hard to even think about?

 

“Kai, can you please pay more attention.” Sehun’s voice broke through his daydreaming. “I don’t know what’s going on with you today. It’ll probably be better if I’m the one taking care of business when we get there. You can just drive.” Sehun was looking at him, puzzlement all over his face.

 

Kai nodded at the demon. He usually preferred to do the door knocks and the actual repossessions since he had more experience than Sehun. Of all the demons, he felt the most protective of Sehun, and tried to keep him as safe as possible when they worked the same job. He watched as Sehun got out of the car and moved towards the driveway as stealthily as possible. 

 

In this line of work, demons definitely had the upper hand – their senses were heightened enough to sense the presence of humans before another human could. But Chanyeol had been right about the problem – all of that didn’t help when the person was crazy or on a mood-altering substance. Those things just somehow messed up the frequency. And in these neighborhoods both events seemed to occur quite often. It made their job harder than it would otherwise be, too.

 

As Sehun approached the house and the vehicle, he was in the most dangerous situation of their job. Kai knew he should have been paying better attention. He knew he should have been there to back up the younger demon, but his mind just kept wandering. He was jerked out of his thoughts when he heard the gun shot, causing him to scramble out of the car and rush towards the noise.

 

As he turned the corner he saw Sehun barreling towards him holding his arm as blood poured down his shirt and jeans. “Ahh, shit, Kai. Come on let’s get out of here for now.” Colliding with Kai, he prodded him to change directions and they both hurtled towards the waiting car. They both threw themselves into the seats, Kai fumbling around to get the car moving and away from the house.

 

“Sehun! What the hell? What happened?” Pulling into the street, Kai floored the accelerator while trying to keep his eyes on the road instead of the bleeding demon. He pacified himself with the fact that the younger wasn’t in any real danger. Demons could die because they had a human body that could be instantly killed just like a normal human body. If their body was simply injured, they did have the ability to heal somewhat faster than humans – not as fast as angels, but faster than humans. But they still required medical help in most of the situations a human would have required medical help.

 

Speeding onto the highway, Kai had just one destination in mind. “Kai, what the hell? Where are you going? You’re passing hospitals. This fucking hurts!” Turning towards Kai the bleeding demon started yelling and hitting him with his good arm trying to get him to pay attention to what he was saying. 

 

The force of Sehun’s blows brought Kai back into the present. “What the fuck, Sehun – it’s not like you’re going to die! I’m just taking you to a hospital a little closer to our house. Calm down and stop acting all human and shit.” Kai pushed the younger away and glared his displeasure at him. “Just shut up and relax. We’ll be at the hospital soon enough.”

____________________________________________________________________________

 

Being a Monday, the emergency room was not as crowded as it might have been, although since it was New York City, there would always be a wait. People moved out of the way as Kai and Sehun approached the front desk to check in. They didn’t need to say or do anything, their presence just seemed to make others uneasy for no apparent reason.

 

Kai sat back as Sehun went through the process of checking in. The clerk went over information with Sehun, but before he could stand up to leave, Kai interjected, “Is Dr. Xiao on duty today? He needs to see Dr. Xiao.” Head snapping around in confusion, Sehun looked closely at the other demon, noticing that Kai seemed tense and anxious all of a sudden.

 

“Yes, Dr. Xiao is on duty. In the emergency room patients get the next available doctor, but I will look into if it’s possible for Mr. Oh to see Dr. Xiao.” With that the clerk turned and left.

 

“What was that all about?” Sehun raised his eyebrows in question. Kai just gave him a look and ignored his questions, which he continued to ask as they waited the 30 minutes it took before they were escorted back to a room. He watched silently as a nurse asked Sehun questions and recorded information on a portable computer. When she finished her evaluation and left, the room fell into a brief silence. “Why are you even here, Kai? Since when have you worried so much about my injuries? This is just standard.” Kai was fixing him with a look that held a lot of unasked questions.

 

Kai just glanced over at the demon and shrugged his shoulders. It was true they didn’t usually accompany each other to their many hospital visits. Since he didn’t have an explanation he just choice to stay silent. But he could feel a tension in the room and he wasn’t really willing to talk to Sehun about it.

 

Both demons jumped slightly when the door was opened. When Kai looked up he was instantly transfixed at the sight of the doctor in his white coat. X came to a sudden halt when he met Kai’s eyes. Both men stood for too long staring at each other. Kai didn’t understand the strange draw this man had on him. It just didn’t make any sense. Was he being manipulated? What else could explain this strange reaction he got whenever he was in the angel’s presence.

 

Without thinking he stood up and slowly moved towards X. Suddenly X kicked into doctor mode and he could see a slight panic in his features. “Kai? What…are you …what happened? Why are you…are you OK?” He reached his hand out towards the demon, a look of concern on his face. Kai was drawn towards the outreached hand and moved forward as if drawn by a hidden string.

 

“Oh. My. Fucking. God. There’s no fucking way this is happening.” Angel and demon were snapped out of their trance at the sound of the harsh words. “Kai – what the…what are you…that’s an angel, Kai. An angel.” Sehun suddenly started to snort as he looked between the two men. “Don’t tell me Doc here is the one who marked you up? I can’t even believe this. Wait until Baek and Yeol hear about this.” He bent over in laughter as he took in the shocked faces before him.

 

“Shut up, Sehun. You don’t even know what you’re talking about.” Kai threw a glare over his shoulder. “Just shut up.” Kai could feel his face warm up as he looked into X’s mortified eyes.

 

“Is this why we came all the way to this hospital? Just so you could see him? An angel? What the hell, Kai?” He let his gaze swing between the angel and the demon, who both seemed to be frozen in space and time. Sehun gave a slight jump when the angel lurched towards him, hand reaching out. “No. Stay away from me. Do not touch me, angel.” Sehun pointed towards the approaching doctor, trying to stop him before he was able to touch him.

 

Kai suddenly took in what was happening and placed himself between Sehun and the Doctor. “Angel what are you doing?” His voice came out in a gentle tone, despite the fact that he was trying hard to speak in a voice that meant business, and he realized that he couldn’t even find it in himself to speak to the angel harshly. “What’s…”

 

“Angel? You call him angel?” Sehun scoffed and rolled his eyes at his friend not believing that this was actually happening right in front of his eyes. Of all demons, too – Kai, the actual fucking ice princess.

 

He looked up as he heard the Doctor’s voice raise an octave higher, “Kai. He can’t know this. He can’t tell anyone. He just can’t know.” X looked into his eyes trying to plead his case. “I’ve got to make him forget.”

 

“No!” Both Kai and Sehun’s voices filled the room. “No, angel. You can’t do that. It’s not right to do that to him. You can’t.” Kai’s voice was strained and his eyes wild, trying to find a way to mke this situation doable for both Sehun and the angel. 

 

“But don’t you see, Kai, it’s dangerous. For us. Even for him. He can’t know this. You’d be in too much danger, Kai.” 

 

“Angel, I’ll take care of it. I will – don’t worry about me, or what he knows. I’ll fix it. I will. Trust me Angel. Please. Just trust me.” His eyes met X’s and the angel could see the plea in them, shifting suddenly because he just didn’t know what the right thing to do was. He looked away because he knew he couldn’t have all of those demons know about this – Kai’s existence could be in trouble if they all knew, if it got spread around. He couldn’t let that happen. His eyes snapped up to look into the demon’s. 

 

“Kai, I…don’t know what to do. I do trust you. But you…I can’t let anything…” His eyes pleaded with the demon for help and understanding. The two men just stood with eyes locked.

 

To Sehun’s watching eyes, there seemed to be a lot more going on between the two men. He was so confused by what he was seeing. It wasn’t normal. Things like this didn’t happen, and he felt as if he was invading into a private moment in which he didn’t belong and couldn’t understand. What a strange feeling. He watched as the doctor gave a brief nod towards Kai, and saw relief flood Kai’s face, watching as the tall demon turned towards him with a look of determination and seriousness.

 

Kai turned towards the hurt younger man and fixed him with a piercing gaze. “Sehun…I’m asking you to keep all of this to yourself. I won’t hesitate to tell the Doctor to manipulate your memory if you can’t do it, Sehun. I need you to swear to this, I need to be able to believe that you can be trusted or else there’s no other option. This is for our own good, but also yours. I don’t want you memory manipulated – it’s not right. But I need my…I need Doctor Xiao to be OK. I can’t let anything happen to him, Sehun. Believe me, his safety is going to come before your comfort or your memory. I swear to that.” 

Sehun looked at him as he turned to stare at the Angel with his last words. He had to turn away from the feelings that were being passed between the two. What the absolute fuck was he witnessing? It was too weird. It made him feel so uncomfortable and…jealous? He shook his head to clear the thought away as he looked at Kai and cleared his throat to get his attention. “Umm, yeah, whatever. I can keep this a secret. But the question is – can you two keep it a secret? And what exactly is it if I may ask?” If they looked at each other like this when they were together he knew there was no way in hell, or heaven, that the two could keep this a secret.

 

“No, no you can’t.” The doctor turned towards him and suddenly changed his whole countenance right before his eyes. All of a sudden he was all business and all doctor as he moved over to him and started looking at his wounds, pressing on his arm until he squealed in pain. He saw the smile on Kai’s face as he turned away from the pair.

 

Kai was woken from sleep by the voice loudly saying his name. He sat up in a daze, blinking and rubbing at his eyes in an effort to focus himself. He looked up and took in the blurry features of the angel. His heart skipped a beat and with it came the realization that he had no control over himself when this man was around, and if he was being truthful he didn’t even want to have control because a loss of control sounded like the best thing ever. He reached out to grab the Angel and pull him closer to sit next to him, smiling at the sudden heat as the body slid down next to him and his world seemed to fall into place at the contact.

 

“Kai, what are you doing? We’re in the middle of the hospital!” He could hear the edge of hysteria from the doctor’s voice, and Kai couldn’t help but smirk when he realized where the angel’s thoughts were going, realizing that it was getting easier to read the expressions and feelings of the other.

 

“Aaahhh, Little Angel,” he turned his head so that his mouth was next to X’s ear, whispering to him in a throaty voice, the breath blowing over X’s ear causing a gentle shiver to move down his spine. “I wasn’t trying anything – I just wanted to talk to you as any family member would talk to the doctor in charge. But I like the way you’re thinking.” He couldn’t help that his voice deepened and had a faint tinge of humor in it. He loved watching as red rose from under the collar of his angel’s throat and rose steadily up his face as he shifted uncomfortably on the couch.

 

It was just the invitation he needed to push X a little further into discomfort. He shifted a little closer to the doctor and lowered his head so that his lips were actually ghosting against the smaller man’s ear. “My God, Angel, you’ve been working all day and you still smell good enough to eat.” He let his eyes rake over the man’s figure, making sure that his gaze was noticed by the angel, whose face got even redder under his lingering gaze. “And you look good enough to taste, too, Angel. Are you sure you don’t want just close the door and…”

 

“K-Kai…” he heard the desperate whine coming from the smaller man and couldn’t help but breathe a little heavier when he realized the reaction he was getting from him. He slowly moved his hand to X’s knee, making small, lightly caressing circles against the man’s thighs and reveling in the way X’s breath was now uneven with tiny strained noises escaping from between his lips. He felt the moment when the man seemed to melt into him and lose his own control, causing Kai’s senses to suddenly swirl and send him into a state of confusion.

 

“Fuck, Angel…I was only trying to mess with you, but…fuck, you…need to stop making those noises, I-I can’t handle tha-a-a…”, his smirking and joking were effectively cut off when one of X’s hands slid up and under his shirt, finding his nipple and scraping gently against it, while the fingers of his other hand started caressing the area just above the waistband of his jeans. Holy Fuck! How did that happen so fast? His Angel acting so bold? He couldn’t control the low, breathy moan that came out of his mouth and holy shit if he cared where they were – this felt too good to even care about something as mundane as location. He moved his hand up and threaded his fingers into his Angel’s hair needing to taste the man again…

 

“HOLY FUCKING SHIT!! I mean I knew, but just HOLY SHIT!” the voice slowly invaded into their shared consciousness as they slowly pulled away from each other as if in a daze. Both looked up with stunned and incoherent expressions trying to make sense of the noise and the interruption. As Kai’s eyes slowly adjusted he saw the shocked and gleeful expression on Sehun’s face as he took in what was happening in the waiting room. “OH. MY. GOD. This is too fucking good and I don’t even have anyone I can tell.” The whining voice of the younger man brought X out of his daze. “You two can’t even keep your hands or eyes off each other, and – just when the fuck did all of this happen? I mean how did you two even meet each other?”

 

“What…? Ummm, yeah he---Sehun…” X stood up turning his head to look at Kai again, “That’s what I came to tell you that…he…was all fixed and ready to go.” Both men heard the snort that came from the younger demon, and X could feel his face flare with heat, closing his eyes to try block out the embarrassment of what they had just been caught doing.

 

“Didn’t look like you were talking much there, Doc, huh? That was pretty hot, really.” Sehun was enjoying this whole situation way too much and Kai could feel himself getting annoyed with the way he was continuing to embarrass the Angel, sliding close to both of them, looking them up and down with a smirk and noticing just exactly how into the moment they had been. 

 

“Sehun. Go. Away.” His eyes flew up to the younger’s, steel meeting amusement. Sehun’s eyebrows shot up when he read the annoyance and danger in the older demon’s eyes, knowing he should get out soon before he paid the price – but damn this was so much fun! He started to open his mouth with a comeback, but heard the beginning of the growl that was coming from Kai and knew from experience to clear out. Kai did suck at being a demon – but when he really got mad, he was Level 3 scary. 

 

Kai’s eyes followed the young man out of the waiting room, watching as he shut the door behind himself but not fast enough so that he couldn’t hear the snorting and laughs he was making as he left. He closed his eyes to regain his control and moved closer to X, trying to comfort him just by being close to him. He felt when the Angel’s tense body started to relax and couldn’t help but rejoice in the feel of the smaller man leaning into him for comfort. He knew at that moment that he would rather stay right here all day, just holding the Angel and giving comfort through contact – he’d rather be right here than anywhere else. He reached out and drew X closer to him, encircling his waist with his arms, feeling the slight weight of his head resting on his shoulder. And it made him ache with longing and confusion.

 

“What Kai? What is it? Something’s bothering you…I feel it.” X raised his eyes to look up at the demon, pausing briefly as his eyes moved over the red, swollen lips. He saw a brief moment of panic deep within the demon’s eyes, but refused to look away.

 

“Angel,” his voice was hoarse, whispered. “What’s going on, Angel? This isn’t normal and we both know it. We can’t stay away from each other and just touching you feels like I’m where I’m supposed to be and it hurts when I’m with you but even more when I’m not – I just don’t understand. I don’t remember…well, you know, I can’t remember before…before heaven, but I’ve never felt anything like this since and it makes me wonder if this is something…”, he halted and shook his head still unable to look away from the Angel in his arms, unwilling to be anything but truthful with him. 

 

“Wonder what, Kai? Wh-what are you thinking?” X slowly reached up and cupped the right side of Kai’s face, softly rubbing his thumb over his cheekbone. “Please tell me” His whisper seemed to transfix Kai and there was no way at that point that he could withhold anything from this man.

 

“What-what if this—if this has something to do with who we were before, in some past life…” His voice trailed off uncertainly. “I mean it sounds crazy when I say it, but there is this draw and neither of us is using manipulation, but we can’t resist the draw and…damn it I even dream about you whenever I close my eyes – Every. Time. I think about you constantly when you’re not near me. When I see you my body aches to feel you. When I touch you, I ache to be inside of you - to the point that it takes over everything. There’s something else there, Angel. You know it, too. And it worries me because we don’t know what it is and I don’t want this thing to ever hurt you because I couldn’t take that…” He looked down at the smaller man embarrassment evident on his face , waiting for the judgment that he was sure was going to come. Instead he saw warmth and understanding in the brown depths of the Angel’s eyes. Of course. 

 

“I-I’ve thought about the same thing, Kai. I don’t know what this is either, but it’s different from anything I’ve ever experienced either. I don’t remember my life before I entered heaven either. Memories are erased from angels, too. But I’ve been an angel for a long time – a lot longer than you’ve been a demon, and yet I’ve never experienced anything like this. And, and…I’ve never even heard about anything like this – this pull we have on each other. But I’m going to find some things out, except…I’m scared to find out, because…” he stopped and stared in front of him, only to have strong arms encircle him, bringing him the comfort he needed at that moment. He could feel the steady breathing and focused on the sound and the feel of Kai’s chest rising and falling, soothing him.

 

“Why are you scared, Angel?” The softly spoken words ghosted over his ear and caused him to shudder in Kai’s arms. “Why?” Soft whispers. “Tell me.” The softly spoken words seemed to penetrate all of X’s defenses and break into the part of him that he never let anyone penetrate.

 

X buried his head in Kai’s shoulder, unable to look at the man as he said the words, but unable to deny what he was feeling. “Because I don’t want to find out anything that would cause this to end. I don’t ever want to lose the way I feel about you right now.” He could feel flames of shame and embarrassment light up his face at his own admission, and he buried his face deeper into the demon’s shoulder.

 

Kai felt wetness on his shoulder as unbidden tears slipped from his Angel’s eyes. He drew him as close as possible, trying to become one without the actual intimacy of the act. They stood there holding each other for minutes until they heard the bang on the door and the warning voice of Sehun, causing them to break apart. Kai couldn’t help the scowl of frustration he felt at the interruption. 

 

“I have to go, Angel. I have to go now. You have to go back to work, too.” He moved away from the angel trying to put some distance between them, trying to break the unseen bond that held them together. Even the small distance caused a pain in his heart that he couldn’t explain or understand. He felt smaller hands encircle his wrist to keep him closer, and looked up at the angel with questions in his eyes.

 

“I-I just w-wanted…I mean I need…I, ummm – y-your phone number..? He heard the hesitancy in the other’s voice as if he was worried that he was asking too much, and he quickly pulled the smaller man forward to assure him that what he asked for was something he wanted, too.

 

“Of course, Angel. That’s something…we need to do that because I don’t think I could go days without talking to you again. I need to know you’re all right and how you’re feeling and what’s been going on. I need to know that I can contact you at anytime.” He dug into his pocket and grabbed his phone, holding it out in front of the smaller man, who did the same.

 

After exchanging numbers, the two moved to put distance between them, causing both to feel some strange sense of loss that was partly incomprehensible. They both knew the other had felt it and they looked at each other in confusion and wonder, not knowing how to voice what they were feeling, until Kai ran his hands through his hair and said the only thing that came close to explaining how he felt, “Shit, Angel, what are we going to do?”

 

The other shook his head while continuing to hold eye contact, his feelings masking the words he just heard. “I don’t know.” Kai watched as the smaller man cleared his throat nervously, “I-I’m going to be gone for a day or two, Kai, just so you know. It-It’s my check in tomorrow and I have to go back up to report…so you won’t be able to contact me tomorrow or maybe even the next day, but I’ll text you as soon as I get back because I’m pretty sure by that time I’ll need to talk to you. I mean I don’t know why I—I just don’t know why. But I will need to.” He moved reluctantly towards the door, trying not to do what he really wanted and throw himself back against the tall demon, his body drinking in the warmth and security he only felt in his arms. “Th-There’s a friend that I need to talk to in heaven, he’s a good friend that I can trust. I mean I’m not going to tell him anything about us, but I don’t know, I need him to find some answers for us. He’s a created angel and he just has lots of knowledge about things and maybe he can help us figure this out?” He ended with a questioning note showing that he was still confused about everything.

 

Kai watched as the angel slipped out of there door with a quick backwards glance. His Angel. He felt as if part of his heart had just been torn out and taken away from him. Strangely he could feel another ache that didn’t belong to him. But he could feel the ache so clearly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At first, I hated this chapter, but then it kind of grew on me as I saw the direction it was headed. Anyway, I hope it's OK even though I know I lack on lots of things, but I'm really trying to improve. I really love demon Sehun, Baek and Yeol - they are just so devilish.


	10. All Hallow's Eve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Suho gets a little help from a friend and surprisingly goes out to enjoy Halloween. And Lay causes trouble.

Suho marveled at the sense of calm and security that seemed to descend upon him the moment he entered heaven. It was remarkable how all of the worries and the stress and indecision seemed to just disappear, to be replaced with a sense of harmony and peace. However, he also felt the difference, too. Something that wasn’t there before - during his last check in. He took a seat in a small park, watching as angels passed, going to check-ins and job related functions. He tried his best to wrap his brain around what he was feeling, although it was hard to get past the whole “serenity” thing so that he could delve into his own emotions.

Then it hit him out of nowhere – what it was he was feeling that was different. He was feeling a loss. As if he was missing something. Kai. Suddenly it was so clear to him. He was missing Kai. Not so much missing him as in “I’ve got to see him, I miss him so much.” More missing him as if a part of himself was missing. As if he was not whole without the other man. On Earth he might have tried to avoid the idea or just clear his head of the thought and try to deny it. But in heaven, the truth was harder to ignore. In heaven denying your own emotions and feelings was harder to do since your guard was down. There was no way around it – he had an empty space that was the exact definition of Kai.

Upon the realization he could feel himself lose some of the serenity and felt some stress fill his mind as he started to nervously run his hand through his hair. This was not good. It wasn’t normal for this to be happening at all and he had to find out what was going on with their relationship. At the same time he felt a reluctance to even try to find out. What if something he found out meant he couldn’t be with Kai? What then? But his mind backfired and took over, throwing the thought away because it was not something that could happen. It was not something he could accept. Which meant what? How far would he be willing to go to keep the demon? He just didn’t know.

Suho stood up quickly and looked around, worried that somehow, someone knew what was going on. Nobody was even paying attention to him as they hurried to their appointments and meet-ups. But could it stay like that? Could what they felt be hidden from everyone? There were angels that could read other angels so quickly and thoroughly. And he was going to see one of them. Ugggh, why did he have to check in with someone who was a long time friend? He’d never had reason to worry about Kyungsoo before because he’d never had anything to hide. Nothing that was important anyway. 

He reluctantly headed towards his check in station, both excited and worried at the same time. He needed Soo’s help, but what price would he end up paying? They were close enough that he felt he could trust him with any secrets, but if he wasn’t even sure how far he himself would go - how could he ever know how far another angel would go. He willed himself to let go of the stress and let the serenity settle back into him. He knew he couldn’t fool his friend, but he didn’t have to make it glaringly obvious that there was something going on with him.

“Suho! Hey!” Suho looked up to see the familiar face standing at the door as he entered the recorder’s room. It was almost as if he had been waiting for Suho – but, no, there was no set date for a check-in, so recorders didn’t know when angels were coming to check-in. Still, Suho had a funny feeling in his stomach that Kyungsoo had been expecting him.

 

“Hi, Kyungsoo. How’s everything going with you? You look like heaven has been treating you well?” He knew his response was guarded as he looked over the small angel who was leaning against the doorframe, as if trying to look subtle and uninterested in what was going on around him, again sparking some worry to spike through Suho’s heart. 

“Everything’s going good up here, Suho? Come on in and have a seat. It’s been slow today, so we have a chance to visit. We haven’t talked for a while.” He opened the door wide and waited for the Guardian Angel to pass through into the privacy of the inner recorder’s office. Suho looked around and chose to sit in the small nook that held a couch, comfortable chairs, and a small table. Although Kyungsoo’s invitation made him nervous, he had been wanting the opportunity to speak to the angel, and this was the perfect opportunity to pick the small angel’s brain – a brain that held more information than anybody he knew.

Suho followed Kyungsoo with his eyes as he came over to sit in one of the chairs across from him. He could feel that the created angel was inspecting him more than just the normal inspection of a recorder to the angels under his charge. He had to bite his tongue not to snap at his friend and ask him what he was thinking. He slowly sat back and crossed his legs, trying to be the very definition of relaxed and patient, although inside he felt anything but those two emotions.

“So Suho…how has everything been going in the Big Apple with your novice angels?” Suho could sense that he wanted to ask him more, but again he focused on being patient and not being confrontational with his friend, despite the desire he had to cut through all of the niceties.

“Everything’s fine Soo. Just the normal amount of chaos to control and Level 1s to contend with. Being a doctor is really kind of a great thing.”

“Hmmm. I see…” He cast his eyes down and that was the end of Suho’s patience; he knew that his friend was dying to say something and he just wanted to know what he knew.

“OK, Kyungsoo, you’re trying really hard to be as patient as I am – just spit it out. I can tell you have something to say. What is it?” Suho tried not to be harsh, but his patience was running thin.

“N-No, No, I just…” he looked over at Suho and was met with a stony face. The guardian watched the red slowly creep up his friend’s face.

“It’s just – you know I’m good at reading people. Well, you do know, and…well, I’m really good at it. I wasn’t even trying to pry or anything, but...” his voice dropped to almost a whining whisper, “I’m just really good at it.”

Suho nodded at the man because he knew that Kyungsoo didn’t go into every conversation trying to read the person across from him, but he had been witness to the angel unintentionally reading someone and being upset about what he learned. They had actually had conversations about this ability and how it often made the small angel uncomfortable.

“And well, you know I see other people from you area. I see, you know, like Luhan and Xiumin and K-Kris…”. With the last name Suho could hear the small groan issue from his own mouth. “And I also see, ummm, Lay…” He couldn’t help the second groan that sounded so loud in the quiet room. He could feel the tension coming from his friend and could see how uncomfortable he was with whatever information he had.

“What exactly did you get from them, then?” Suho decided to just be straightforward. He needed Kyungsoo’s help anyway, so he needed to know what the angel knew.

“You know, Luhan and Xiumin don’t seem to know anything really – well except that I had to hear about a human named Chen. A lot. And Luhan is…kind of different. Not in a bad way, though…”

“Soo. Please just stop making me sit here wondering what’s going on in your head. Just spit it out.”

Kyungsoo had the humility to look down at his own feet, trying to find the words he wanted to say to his friend, mixed in with a feeling of acceptance and care. “It’s just that this demon came up quite a bit, you know. I’m actually worried about Lay’s reaction when he thinks about this demon. He’s only a Level 1, but Lay just really hates him beyond any reason. It’s not a good thing for an Eradicator. They shouldn’t even have a Level 1 on their radar, you know? But it’s something to watch.” With those words he made a point of looking directly at Suho, as if warning him of the importance of monitoring Lay’s reaction to the demon. He could do nothing but nod his head at the statement.

“And with Kris…I get these snatches of ideas and anger from him, but he’s also really confused, Suho. He doesn’t get what’s going on with…well, in your mind mostly. He feels really worried and disgusted and…well, he’s also disgusted with himself.”

This got Suho’s attention. What? “Wh-why, would Kris be disgusted with himself? That doesn’t even make sense.” He shot an inquiring look at the small angel, who managed to look up and meet his eyes bravely.

“Because whatever he feels coming from you two makes him feel jealous. Like he’s jealous of whatever emotions he feels coming off of you two. I don’t really understand it, either. My reading is mostly picking up on emotions and reading those – it doesn’t always give a clear picture. But I know there’s something going on with you and the level 1 demon – Kai’s his name.”

With the mention of Kai’s name, Suho could not help but feel a sudden increase in his pulse as a warmth spread throughout his body. With terror he looked up into Kyungsoo’s eyes, knowing the other would soon be picking up on his emotions. He watched as Kyungsoo’s eyes got even wider than they normally were. He gazed at Suho with a stunned expression before grabbing his chest and taking in a sudden, deep breath. His face looked confused and amazed simultaneously and Suho instantly felt frightened for his friend.

“Wh-what the hell is that…” Kyungsoo’s voice came out as a squeak, “It’s so strong, Suho. What is that? Why do you…? How is that even…? How did this happen, Suho?” His eyes were filled with trepidation and wonder as he turned to stare at his friend in alarm. He kept shaking his head as if he could somehow get rid of the emotions he was reading if he shook his head enough.

Suho ran his hands through his hair in agitation. How was he supposed to explain this to the angel? How could he make him understand what was going on when he didn’t even understand it himself? He shook his head, all the while looking at the wide-eyed man trying to figure out how to explain everything he was feeling to him. “I-I don’t know how to explain it, Soo. It just happened at there was no stopping what I was feeling.” He felt his voice rise as the next words came out in a whine, “Kyungsoo, I don’t know what to do! We both know there’s something more to it though.” He stopped talking for a minute to gauge the angel’s reaction. Kyungsoo was staring at him in wonder and kind of even fascination, as if he couldn’t comprehend what was going on, but was really trying to understand.

“Suho-I just…I felt that so hard and I’ve never felt anything like that. I’ve had this ability for well over a hundred years, Suho, and I’ve never felt this strong of an emotion coming from someone before. It’s as strong as the emotion from a mother to her newborn baby, but of course it’s all totally different.” Kyungsoo ducked his head and whispered as if to himself, “All of a sudden I get what Kris was feeling. Why he was jealous. This is…it’s so…much.” He gazed up at Suho from underneath his fringe as if afraid to meet his eyes straight out.

 

Suho couldn’t help the nervous movement and fidgeting he was doing in his seat. He didn’t know how much he should tell Kyungsoo – or even if he should tell him anything. Kai’s safety was of utmost importance to him. But he also knew he had to find out what was happening, he had to know for both of their safety. 

“Soo – now I’m not saying that’s what this is, but – do you know anything about, umm,… Well, you know, about,” he hesitated and the next word came out as a whisper, “Soulmates?” Suho knew the instant when the idea started to take root in his friend’s brain. He noticed his eyes widen and a look of interest fill his eyes. He’d seen that look before and instantly knew that if anyone could find out what was going on it would be Kyungsoo.

“Suho…but that’s just…crazy. There haven’t been soulmates in – what? At least 600 years. If not longer. Is that even possible? I mean, there’s been nothing for so long. I don’t know. I’m going to have to do research on that though…” Suho could hear the beginnings of excitement in the angel’s voice. “Six hundred years? How does it even work? And those emotions – I mean, did everyone who had soulmates feel like that? Because that would be too…” his voice trailed off, but Suho could see that his brain was now spinning out of control.

“Well, I have been an angel for longer than that, and you for even longer. But you know we used to not be so involved in earth and humans as we are now. I don’t remember every even knowing any soulmates. I don’t know how long Kai’s been…been back on Earth. And we don’t know how long he was waiting in…there’s just too much we don’t know and might never know. But I have to ask you for your help, Soo. I need you to find out as much as you can. Please. This is just so overwhelming and it’s kind of scary, too. We just don’t know what’s happening.”

“No kidding.” He heard the strangled chuckle coming from the angel. “But, maybe – maybe, you should stay away from him until you know something? I mean – we really don’t know what this is, Suho.” 

Suho could feel his eyes on him and immediately turned towards him with an incredulous look on his face. “Stay away from him? You still don’t get it, Kyungsoo. That doesn’t work. It’s like he’s inside of my head all of the time and I can just…I feel him??...all of the time. And it just seems to get stronger every day. I’m kind of scared what more’s going to happen from day to day. But staying away from him really isn’t gonna happen. Even if I wanted it to.” With this he dropped his eyes to the floor. “And I don’t. I’ll never.” He couldn’t help adding the last thought because it was something that seemed to bubble up inside of him at that moment. That realization that he knew he was going to want Kai forever. He just knew that this wouldn’t go away. 

Kyungsoo nodded his head. “Yeah, well I knew the answer to that even before I said it. I felt what you were feeling and I knew. But I felt like I should warn you. But Suho – you’ve got to be careful. This is a dangerous thing right here. Not just because we don’t know what’s happening, but because of who and what you are. Demons – and I’m not talking Kai, or even his Level 1 friends here – demons don’t play by any rules. This could hurt both of you. And everyone around you too. Just be cautious and really careful, Suho. Please.”

“I know, Soo. I know this could get out of hand and I’m not going to do anything that could possibly hurt him.”

“I’m not even talking about him. What about you, Suho? You need to take care of yourself first.”

“I can’t do that, because Soo, if something happened to him – it would be even worse than if it happened to me. If I had to be here without him…that thought hurts worse than anything I can imagine. I don’t ever want to find out what that would feel like.” Suho stood up quickly and ran his hand through his hair. “Shit. This is all so heavy and crazy sounding, and I don’t want it to be that. But it’s not as easy to block the thoughts and feelings out up here. I don’t seem to have a choice except to see the truth. It’s a little easier down there. Down there you can try to block thoughts and feelings. Even if you know the truth.”

“Yep. The glory of heaven. You should stay up here a while longer, Suho. Just sit in the park or something. The serenity will be good for you after this. You can just let your soul heal a little. Renew. Before you have to go back.”

“Yeah, I might do that for a while. Although I need to get back soon.” He stood up and approached his friend, reaching out to pull him into his arms.

“My God, Suho, you can’t hug me for long because I can’t handle these emotions coming from you. I don’t even know how you can deal with this all the time.” He could feel the smile in Kyungsoo’s voice, but knew that his words were serious. Kyungsoo didn’t lie and he was always straight up with Suho. 

“All right, Soo. I’ve gotta go now. I have to be getting back soon. Just –just get back to me as soon as you find something, huh?” 

 

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Suho opened the door only to be greeted by a demon – red eyes, black horns and tail – falling off the couch in the middle of a drawn out giggle that reverberated around the room. Despite his confusion he couldn’t help but smile at the sweet sound the man emitted. Kris and Luhan were sitting in the living room smiling at the young man, looks of fondness in their eyes. The giggles halted and everyone’s eyes fell on him when the sound of the front door closing was noticed by the men.

“Suho, err –X—you’re back. How was…how did everything go?” Luhan looked up at him with the look of amusement still on his face. Suho lifted an eyebrow as he took in the outfit the baby-faced man was wearing. 

“Are you wearing prison clothes?” His voice was incredulous and looked at the other two only to come up short when he saw Kris dressed out in biker gear with leather jacket, dirty torn jeans and faux tattoos covering his neck and chest. His hair was longer and he had a grimy looking beard covering his features. “OK – I’m lost. What happened while I was gone? Did you all go crazy. I swear I leave for a little over 24 hours and I come back to a mess. What’s going on?”

At that moment, Xiumin’s call of “I’m done. Get ready for my entrance”, rang across the apartment. Before Suho could even react the junior angel swept into the room looking like – well, he looked like an angel. With wings. And a halo. A golden halo. Suho couldn’t help his mouth falling open in surprise when he took in the outfit. They really had all gone crazy without him there. He leaves for less than 2 days and all hell breaks loose. 

“Oh, Suho! I mean, ummm X…” Xiumin drew up short as he saw his mentor.

“Why do you guys keeping calling X, Suho? Is that his nickname or something? You don’t need to keep correcting yourself because of me. I already know you all call him Suho.” The demon stood up and approached both Xiumin and Suho. “Damn, Xiu. You look good. I mean you look really good. Hot as…-- .”

“Yah! Hey, I don’t want to hear that! Keep that stuff between yourselves!” Kris’s voice with obvious disgust evident in it joined the conversation. “Ugghh. Here I was thinking you were all cute and then you go say something gross like that. We really don’t want to hear about how hot Xiumin is – ever.”

“But how can I not say it? Just look at him. I’ve never seen an angel look like that. Have you?” Chen’s voice was indignant on his boyfriend’s behalf.

“Well, actually yes. I’ve seen lots of angels look as hot as…” Kris broke off when he heard Suho clear his throat loudly, clearly a message to him to shut up.

“I’m so confused. Why are you guys…” he waved his hand around taking in all 4 of the men, “…like this? Why?’ He looked at each of them and whispered, “I just don’t know.” Suho shook his head in complete confusion. All he wanted was to get to his room and talk to Kai, and instead he had to deal with 4 grown men dressed up as demons and bikers and prisoners – dear God, how far he had fallen since his heaven days. 

“It’s Halloween, X. You know, All Hallow’s Eve? We’re just celebrating a little.” Chen’s cheerful voice penetrated his haze of confusion. He couldn’t help but hear the excitement and energy in the human’s voice and had to smile despite himself. This guy was so likeable and he really was cute. “We’re all going out tonight. You, too. We even got you a costume! Hmmm. I think we chose the right one.” He felt Chen looking him over from head to foot and had the sudden urge to hide away before the man could get hold of him and force him to wear this costume. 

“I’m not wearing anything. I’m not going anywhere except to bed.” He paused a moment to think about what he had just heard. “You guys are really going out tonight?” He raised an eyebrow towards the three angels.

“Tonight’s a busy night, Suho. You have to go with us. We really need to be out and about, you know? And it’s going to be fun.” Kris shrugged his shoulders, changing the subject seamlessly. “Say, Suho, what do you think about Xiu and Chen’s costumes? Angel and demon. Interesting, huh?” He ducked his head at the scathing look he got from the senior angel. 

“Angel and demon. Whose idea was that?” Suho directed his question towards Chen and Xiumin, watching as Chen broke out into laughter and took credit for the idea. He saw Xiumin beaming at the laughing demon, a look of complete adoration on his face, and could only shake his head. His life was out of control in all areas. 

 

“Whatever. I just—whatever. I’m going to bed.” He shook his head and took one more look at the biker, the demon, the angel and the prisoner and shook his head in fatigue. He heard the men start talking and laughing excitedly as he made his way to his room. He rolled his eyes when he saw the costume garment bag hanging on his door. Did they really think he was going to wear one of those costumes and go out in public?

Once in the seclusion of his own space he could think of nothing else but Kai. He grabbed his phone which he had left on his nightstand – no need for phones in heaven. He noticed that he had several notifications and quickly opened them. Three of them were from Kai.

8:15 pm KAI: Hey. Just worried about you. I know you had to go check in, but just let me know when you get back. I could feel you worrying about something. I’m here.

9:07 pm KAI: You feel much more peaceful now, Angel. I’m glad, but I need to talk to you because I’m not doing so good not hearing from you. Just let me know when you’re back.

9:53 pm KAI: Oh. You’re back. Don’t ask me how I know. Call me.

Suho looked at the time on his phone: 9:57. His fingers shook with relief and sudden need as he hit Kai’s number and waited for him to pick up the phone so he could feel at peace again.

“Angel?” Suho felt the softness of Kai’s voice as he said his name. It seemed to sink into him and become the calm and soothing that he needed. He instantly felt himself relax, and closed his eyes as he sank onto his bed. “Angel. I-I’ve missed you. I could feel you, but you felt so far away. So different. But now I can feel you so strong. It’s so much better. Just, fuck, I can’t believe I’m even saying this.” His voice lowered into a whisper at the end.

“Kai.” Just the way he said the name. The way it made all of his worries seem insignificant and manageable. He suddenly had a surge of longing and need so strong that he felt as if all of the air had been stolen from his lungs and he was drowning without the other man. “Kai…” He knew his voice was a call of need to the other, and he knew that Kai would see it for what it was.

“Hey, hey, baby – I’m here. I’m right here. It’s OK. I’ve got you, Angel.” The low, soft timbre of Kai’s voice reached out to soothe him. “I need you, too, baby. I need to see you and…damn I need to touch you so bad.” His words elicited a strangled whine from the other side of the line, causing Kai to close his eyes and rest his forehead against the wall, trying to reach out to the Angel silently.

“Kai, please, Kai. I can’t—I just…” he closed his eyes and turned his face into his pillow, trying to hide from the need and desire to just go to the demon. “I just don’t understand why this has become so strong. And everyday it just…” he let his voice trail off not knowing exactly what to say. He felt a sudden onslaught of need pit in his stomach, his senses taking their time to realize that the need he was feeling was coming from the other. “My God, Kai, you…oh My God.” He couldn’t even describe how overwhelming it all was – his own feelings and needs mixed up with Kai’s, and then on top of that the understanding of how much the demon wanted and needed him. It was too much.

“Angel – I’ve got to see you! I need to see you now. I don’t think I can wait. I can’t…” Kai’s voice had lowered to a seductive drawl that stole away any remainder of restraint that Suho had – and he knew that Kai felt it, too. He tried to focus on the problem; tried to figure out how they could see each other, his mind grasping on to anything that could accomplish the one goal of being near the demon. “Kai – I know what to do. The club – we can meet at the club. Tonight’s Halloween and it’s going to be crowded and everyone’s going to be dressed up. We won’t even be noticed in that crowd.”

“Halloween? Yeah, tha-that’s good. I’ve got it – I know what to wear. Nobody will even know it’s me.”

“I will. I’d always know,” Suho whispered his thoughts out loud, then hurriedly cleared his throat in embarrassment from letting that slip out. “I, ummm, I’m going to get ready. They already got me a costume, so I’ll just, ummm, get dressed and see you there?”

Suho shivered when he heard the hoarse “See you there, Angel,” whispered just to him. With these words he forgot what he was supposed to be doing and held the phone in front of him and stared at it. He didn’t hear the small knock on the door or the turning of the doorknob. Didn’t see the concerned face of Luhan as he peeked around the door at him.

“Su-Suho? Are you OK?” These words jolted him into awareness and he quickly stuffed the phone back into the pockets of his pants, knowing that he was blushing like he hadn’t done in hundreds of years. He tried to cover up by moving across the room towards Luhan and the garment bag that held the costume.

“Yeah, I just decided I wanted to join you guys tonight. I’m kind of bored and it would be good to patrol the crowd tonight. You know – there’s a lot of excitement in the air and we just need to walk through the crowd and make sure everyone stays safe.” He could feel the blood rushing to the tips of his ears at the small fabrication he just rambled off to Luhan, and would have backed out right then and there if it wasn’t for the fact that Luhan jumped all over the idea.

“Oh, cool – you’re going with us? Wait until everyone hears. Especially Chen – he’s the one that picked out your costume, you know? He was so excited I think Xiumin may have gotten a little jealous. Chen seems to have a real case of hero worship where you’re concerned.”

“Huh? Why would he even…what?” Suho had only had a few interactions with the excitable human and couldn’t understand why the man would ever even notice him.

“Suho you’re so oblivious to your own charms. Honestly you could have your pick of – whatever. Men, women, human, angels – whatever.”

“Demon?” the thought came unbidden out of Suho’s mouth and he blanched realizing that the thought had actually been verbalized, especially when he saw the immediate raised eyebrows of the angel. He laughed nervously and tried to cover up his mistake. “Just kidding – you said anyone. I-I’m gonna get dressed now, so I’ll be out in a minute. When are we leaving?”

“In about 15 minutes. It’s a good thing you decided now or we might have left you. I hope you like your costume.” Suho saw a brief smile flash across Luhan’s face, only to be suppressed, making him wonder just what the human had chosen for him.

_______________________________________  
“I told you he’d look good in that costume,” Chen didn’t even notice the glare his comment received from his boyfriend as they followed Suho and the other angels into the crowded club, looking for an open spot for the group.

Suho’s senses were already heightened, and he could feel the heavy beat of the music make its way into him. The scents of perfume, cologne and sex cloying to the people he brushed against as he walked across the floor headed to a table that was already occupied by Tao who was waving them over. 

As Suho neared the table he noticed Tao’s eyes roaming over his costume from head to foot, accompanied by a silent smirk. He heard a loud “Tsk” behind him and turned to see Kris rolling his eyes at Tao. “Maybe you could just keep your eyes to yourself, you think?”

Tao smirked again and gave Suho another perusal, “Why should I? I mean look at him?” The gaze he leveled at Kris was challenging him to do something about it. It was at that moment that Suho felt an irrational anger in the pit of his stomach. He blinked slowly trying to determine where the feeling was coming from, all the while watching the interaction between Kris and Tao, making sure it didn’t get out of control.

“Whatever, Tao. Shouldn’t you be working or something?” Kris pushed Tao over as he sat in the booth, scooting around so that Suho could slide into the seat next to him. “Rude,” he murmured as he settled back into the seat, earning a scoff from Tao, who leaned forward and put his attention back on Suho with a wink and a wide shit-eating grin. 

“I am working – but not for another hour. I have plenty of time to sit here and, umm, converse.” He smiled at Kris and looked past him to again wink at Suho and cause Kris to roll his eyes.

This was followed by another burst of heated anger inside of Suho. What the hell? And then it slowly dawned on him where these feelings were coming from. They weren’t his. Kai. He was here. He had seen everything. Suho couldn’t stop himself from perusing as much of the club as he could, searching for the demon, knowing he had to be somewhere close enough to see the small group. 

He knew when he found him, despite the fact that he was unrecognizable as the demon. Even his aura was cloaked in a different color. He ran his eyes over the now grey demon, noting the pointy ears and small orange/yellow horns sitting atop a mess of black unruly hair that fell down into his eyes, which were a deep red surrounded by bright yellow. His heart rate increased as he took in the tight grey ripped jeans fitting him like a second skin, ending in a pair of black, mid-calf boots with red laces. His gaze roamed back up taking note of the low cut of the jeans and the way the tight fitting black shirt fell to just at the waist line, meaning that any arm movement would create a glimpse of skin between he shirt and the jeans. A realization that suddenly made him feel nervous and dazed. He continued moving his eyes up until they caught on the yellow staring into his eyes, red irises dark and penetrating. He instinctively licked his lips with nervousness and noticed the way those same eyes followed the movement of his tongue. He watched the demon tilt his head slightly to the left as if beckoning him, then turning to be swallowed by the swarming mass of bodies and costumes, writhing and undulating to the music. 

 

Suho turned back towards the table, mouth dry and a slightly stunned look on his face. No one seemed to notice what had just transpired, but everyone’s attention was quickly drawn to him when a slightly Neanderthalic “Bathroom” slipped past his lips in a rough, overly loud voice. He saw Kris raise his eyebrows and Luhan seemed to find his word hilarious as he broke into giggles. Suho just shook his head and got up from the table, ignoring the quizzical looks and laughing behind him, his mind totally consumed with Kai and – whatever he was dressed up as – because that was hot.

The club was more crowded than Suho had ever seen it, and he had to force his way through the mass of bodies as he tried to find the direction Kai had gone. As he got towards the middle of the floor, a hand suddenly grabbed around his waist and pulled him forward against a hard body. Suho’s immediate instinct was to pull away, but he stopped quickly when he looked up into yellow eyes that seemed to be glittering with a tinge of anger. Despite the feelings that were emanating from the man, Suho immediately relaxed and moved towards him, relishing the feeling of the welcoming arms enclosing around him.

Suho felt the rumble of laughter against his body, “Angel. Ahhh, first things first – my God I missed you. Only a couple of days and I’m a mess without you.” They stood holding each other, unnoticed by the throng of people focused on doing their own thing, not interested in the intense reunion happening in front of them. Suho felt a calmness descend on him and realized that the only time he ever felt this secure and calm was when he was in heaven.

After a few moments of just melting into each other he felt Kai pull away from him and look down at him, “And now, can you explain to me why that blonde puppy is still drooling all over you?” He could feel the growl in Kai’s voice. “Not that I can blame him since it’s just wrong that you came out of your house looking like this.” As he spoke his eyes roamed over him and his hand reached up to run his finger through the dark locks falling past his shoulders. “Still I don’t like the way he looks at you like he wants a taste. He better change his order real quickly because I’m not sharing.” Suho saw the brief pout the demon made as he said these words, and could barely suppress a grin at how cute the man looked with the grey skin and strange eyes only adding to the effect.

“I hardly think you have anything to worry about, and you know it.” His expression softened as he looked up at the demon again, “I missed you, too. So much, Kai.” It came out as a whisper, but Kai was close enough to hear the words and his anger evaporated immediately replaced by a sudden heat in his body. He grabbed Suho by one of the belts encircling his waist and pulled so that the angel practically fell on him.

“So…why exactly are you wearing a costume that has made every woman and half of the men in this place look at you like they want to jump you?” Again he stared at the sleeveless vest with the plunging V neck that didn’t have a shirt under it – just bare skin almost to his waist. “And what exactly are you supposed to be anyway?”

“I didn’t exactly pick this costume myself. And I’m a Woodland Elf. You can’t tell?”

“I’ve just never seen a Woodland Elf with so little clothing. I think they normally are covered everywhere.” He ran his hand up and down in front of Suho to point out the obvious bare skin everywhere.  
“Well according to Chen, I’m from a hot Woodland area, so no sleeves or…ummm…shirt. I don’t really understand where all the leather comes in though.”

“Mmm, I think you missed his whole concept. I don’t think he was talking about the Woodland when he used the word ‘hot’.” Suho noticed the demon’s eyes moving slowly over his bare arms, set off by thick metal arm bracelets around his biceps, which only served to draw the eyes to the sculpted muscles of his arms. His eyes then traveled from his neck down the bare chest to where it met the waistband and belts that encircled his slim waist. Suho sucked in his breathe as Kai’s eyes continued to travel further past the belts, and could not hold in the low moan that drew Kai’s attention back to his face.

Without saying anything both men were drawn closer to each other, not letting the other’s gaze drift away. Kai lowered his mouth to Suho’s ear, “The music, Angel, just listen to the music. Let it lead you.”

With those words he turned Suho around so that his back was pressed against Kai’s chest, his arms encircling his waist, pulling him in so that he could feel the man from his head, to the small of his back, to the feel of his ass pressed against Kai, down to his legs that were entangled in the other mans. The feeling was intoxicating and sensual, and it was all he could do to keep his knees from buckling underneath him, although he wasn’t sure if it was Kai’s arms holding him upright or his own legs.

Kai began to slowly move to the music, his arms around Suho’s waist causing the other man to move along with him. The tight ripped jeans Kai was wearing left little to the imagination, and Suho could feel the outline of the man: his hard thighs pressed against his own and the hard bulge pressing into the small of his back. He closed his eyes and pushed back against the man, melting at the deep groan that vibrated though his body. At that moment it didn’t even matter to Suho where they were – he was willing to do anything the other man wanted, not caring about who might see them.

He relaxed into Kai, feeling the demon’s hand move from his face down along his side until it met the belts at his waistband. He started as he felt him move his thumb past the waist band to grip onto his pants, holding him in position. The demon pressed him back against him so that here was no space between them, all the while rolling his hips in a sinful way to go along with the beat of the music. Suho was unable to stop himself from matching this rhythm that the taller man had set. 

He felt the demon hook his head over his shoulder and could feel the man’s breath ghost over the skin at his neck, jumping slightly at the whisper of lips against his throat. Suho reached his arm back and hooked it behind the demon’s head, pulling him further into him, feeling his lips more insistent and evident against his hot skin. He could hear nothing but Kia, feel nothing but Kai and think nothing but Kai. 

As the night progressed, Suho could feel the heat building as both he and Kai continued to press their bodies together, moving as one, getting as close as they possibly could without actually removing their clothes. Suho was so enraptured by the heat, the smell of the other man, the feel of their bodies moving in perfect unison and harmony; he was unable to decide where he ended and Kai began, where his senses were his own and not part of Kai’s consciousness. 

They both noticed the invasion of space at the same time, too caught up in the feel of the other to notice anything until it was right in front of them. “Hey, Karkat, you don’t mind sharing a little, huh?” the slurred voice penetrated their little bubble and drew both of their attention. Suho felt an arm slip around his waist and start to pull him back, causing immediate confusion to the dazed angel. 

“Remove your fucking hands before I kill you.” Suho’s eyes flew up to see Kai’s deadly gaze focused on the man who had grabbed the angel. The stranger’s eyes grew wide at first, and then became surly in his drunken state, failing to notice just how deadly the demon’s gaze had become.

“Who the fuck are you to tell me what to do? You don’t own him do you? Give him a chance to decide for himself.” The man made the mistake of pulling harder on the stunned angel, causing him to fall into the stranger, unable to keep his balance.

With a low roar, Kai moved the couple of feet towards the man, reaching his hand out to wrap it around the man’s throat, not caring that the pressure had effectively cut off the man’s air supply. The man’s face began to turn a dark shade of purple as he struggled against the hand holding him, the fear on his face becoming evident as he slowly started to panic.

Suho quickly regained his senses as he watched the scene in front of him. He could feel the anger and the loss of control coming from the demon as he slowly moved his hand to cup the demon’s face and turn it towards him. “Kai. Kai look at me.” His voice was little more than a whisper as he attempted to break through the trance the demon seemed to be under. “Kai, let him go. I’m all right, Kai. Please just let him go.” He could tell the moment his voice broke through when he felt the indecision from the demon and then a feeling of peace and sudden calmness coming from him. 

Suho felt his chest fill up warm and golden, suddenly realizing that he was feeling what Kai thought of him. What Kai felt for him. How Kai needed him. The feeling was so overwhelming and so possessive, but not necessarily in a bad way. It was more of an acknowledgement that they were 2 parts of a whole and that nothing was going to come between them. Suho’s eyes searched the demon’s as he slowly let go of the man, who fell onto the ground, pushing across the floor before standing up and running in the other direction. 

Kai’s hand came up to caress Suho’s cheek then skirted around to the back of his neck, his touch soft and shaking as he pulled the angel towards him, wrapping him into his neck and closing his arms around him as if to protect him from the world. “My God, Angel. I’m s-so sorry. You – you shouldn’t have seen that.” His voice was muffled into Suho’s hair as he held the angel tightly against himself, mortified that the angel had felt that. He knew his feelings were transmitted to the other and he had made someone who would never hurt anyone feel what it felt like to want to murder someone. He had made someone pure feel the thoughts of someone evil.

Suho could feel the mortification and self-loathing coming from the other man and reached up to try to comfort him. He was confused about the whole situation, but regardless he did not want the other man to suffer. He didn’t want him to be in pain ever. “Kai. Look at me.” He ran his hands through Kai’s here forcing the man to look at him. “It’s OK. I’m fine. Please don’t worry about me…” 

His words came to a halt as he was drawn back into reality by the sound of raised voices over the music, suddenly noticing the movement and the unusual activity going on around him. His eyes flew around the dark interior of the club trying to see over the flashing colors and the mass of bodies, immediaely aware of the strange vibe he was feeling around him. His eyes flew to Kai who was also noticing what was going on around him and had a questioning look on his face. 

Out of nowhere, the crowd seemed to surge into both of them, separating them and creating a scene of chaos. Suho could feel himself getting pushed in the opposite direction from the demon and scrambled to keep from falling onto the floor. Out of the darkness he heard his name being called and moved towards the sound, not knowing who it was calling him. He felt a hand grab the back of his shirt and pull him away from the crowd on the dance floor. He regained his senses quickly and swept his legs against whoever was pulling him, causing the man to go flying onto the floor. Suho looked down to see Lay angrily scrutinizing him as he grappled back up from the floor.

“Lay…what the hell? What’s going on? Why are you even here?” Suho tried in vain to inspect the club from all angles, but was met with such a mass of bodies and chaos that he couldn’t see much of anything. 

“Dammit, Suho. What were you doing out there? This place is swarming with demons and you’re out there dancing? What is going on with you? Have you forgot who you are? What you are? There’s something bigger going on here, but you are too far up…” Lay grabbed him again and started pushing him towards the area where the others were seated. Suho swung around to push Lay’s hands off of him, but it wasn’t needed as another larger hand grabbed Lay’s wrist, immobilizing him for the brief amount of time it took Suho to wrench out of his grasp. 

“Keep your fucking hands off of him, and don’t put them on him again. I am so fucking sick of seeing you around him.” The voice coming from Kai’s mouth was one that Suho had never heard before, something that screamed demon and danger. Kai surged forward and put himself between Lay and Suho, blocking the smaller angel with his body. 

The air was split as a sudden growl from Lay resounded all around the little group. He reached up and grabbed Kai’s shirt with both hands, pushing him back as he tried to assert his dominance – but unable to move Kai. “What the hell…?” the surprise on Lay’s face was evident as he pushed harder against the demon. “Me? Me get away from him? What are you talking about – who the hell are you? How dare you try to tell me what to do with my own friend, my colleague?” Suho could hear the manipulation in his voice – stronger than any he himself was capable of using. The Eradicator training created a manipulation technique that was superior to anything a normal guardian would ever learn. The fact that the manipulation seemed to have little effect on Kai surprised both the angel and the eradicator.

How was Kai withstanding this? His thoughts were cut short as he heard his name being called, and turned to see Kris and Luhan rushing towards him. “Suho, do you see them all? They just came out of nowhere. The whole club…the whole club is full of them.” The slight panic in Kris’s voice got his attention as he looked around the club to take in as much as he could against the noise and chaos around him. He was suddenly able to pick out the auras that seemed to fill the room, indicating the presence of multitudes of demons.

Abruptly Kris noticed Lay’s hands that were still clenched in Kai’s shirt and his eyes got even more confused. “What’s going on? Who is that?” Kris’s eyes roved over Kai’s figure, making an unexpected growl form in Suho’s throat – a feeling that was instantly replace with shame for his reaction. Fortunately nobody seemed to hear the growl except for Kai, who had turned his head quickly upn hearing the sound, trying in vain to catch Suho’ eyes as he evaded the look, unable to see the sudden worry in Kai’s eyes.

Kris’s attention was drawn by a roar heard throughout the club, catching all of the angel’s attention. “Suho, we’ve got to get this under control. They’re everywhere – all over.” He started to move towards the throng of people, Luhan following. A reluctant Suho looked at the demon and the eradicator still connected and glaring anger at each other.

“Suho – it’s OK. Go.” Kai’s voice was gentle and soothing as he turned towards him, causing a flash of anger in Lay, who shoved the demon at those words. “I’ll call, just go do what you have to do.” Suho nodded, held his eyes for a brief moment and then turned to quickly rush towards the figures of the two angels, not realizing that two sets of eyes followed him as he left.

“Don’t think I don’t know what you are,” Lay’s voice came out as a hiss. “You may be able to fool guardian’s, but I have more training. I can see through you and your aura is bright to me, demon. I just don’t know why the fuck you seem to think you are in charge of taking care of an angel? Why are you always around and why does he trust you? If you really cared you’d see the danger you’re putting him in. This isn’t normal – what’s happening in here tonight. Look around. Have you ever seen so many demons in one club before? Why? Something bigger is happening and he’s so distracted by you that he’s going to get himself hurt. And it’ll be all your fault.”

Kai suddenly looked around at what the eradicator was talking about, noticing the amount of demon aura’s in the club. Enough to match the humans there. He didn’t understand it either. But it wasn’t as if the Level 3s and 4s ever told the lowly Level 1s what was going on or why they asked them to do anything. There were only 3 groups assigned to this particular area, so he didn’t really know where the others had come from, but it was kind of confusing seeing all of the other demons.

Lay noticed the confusion on his face and decided to take that moment to attack. “See – you don’t even know what’s going on. You have no power at all as a Level 1 demon and you think you can somehow be with an angel like Suho? You have no way to protect him. All you can do is cause him to get hurt. If they even knew about you he could immediately lose his wings. That would be your fault.” The lies slipped easily from his tongue – one thing that eradicators had actually been trained to do. Something most angels were unable to do successfully, outside of meaningless white lies.

“You will ruin him, demon. Suho has a beautiful soul and you will turn it evil and dark like yours and banish him to a lifetime of being a Level 1 demon. And look at him. As a Level 1 demon you know the Level 3s and 4s will want him. They’ll all be after him. You also know what that means.” Lay watched as his words sank into the demon’s heart, his eyes filling with dread and horror at the very thought. “You need to cut all contact with him and just let him do what he needs to do here.”

Lay watched the demon actually clutch at his chest as he looked round trying to find Suho in the crowd. He began to stumble towards the door as if in pain, looking dazed and lost. For a moment something inside of Lay rebelled at what he just witnessed. For a demon to actually listen to what he had just said, for a demon to think more of somebody else besides himself – there was something there he was missing. But then the scene he had witnessed of Suho and the demon rubbing against each other on the dance floor entered back into his head and erased all of his misgivings. He was doing the right thing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've had most of this chapter done for awhile, but just couldn't get the ending. I'm still not totally satisfied, but at some point I had to publish it. The outfits - OMG, the outfits. I can see them in these outfits. So here are the images;
> 
>    
> [Suho as the Woodland elf, with out the sleeves though](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/96/06/3f/96063ffe604d40682322fa522a01b0b1.jpg)
> 
>  
> 
> [Kai - who can tell who Kai is supposed to be (you were kind of told)](https://static.zerochan.net/Karkat.Vantas.full.1485777.jpg)
> 
> Anyway, if you have time I'd appreciate any comments.


	11. A Marked Bond

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tao and Kris notice something, as do Kyungsoo and Luhan. Kyungsoo hs information that may change things for Suho, but will it be too late?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know. I started off liking this chapter, then I didn't like it anymore. Now I don't know how I feel about it. I guess there are some parts I really like. I do know that this chapter flowed. Hmmm. I hope you like it.

As Suho followed the backs of Kris and Luhan, he felt a strange sensation in the pit of his stomach that left him with a feeling of unease that he didn’t quite understand. He had to quickly shelve these feelings as he looked around him at the total chaos that seemed to have taken over the club. There seemed to be small skirmishes and full out brawls spread throughout the dark, flashing interior. Finally, reaching the table where everyone was stationed, the group was able to look at the situation that was in front of them. Suho immediately barked out orders to angels, Tao and Chen. Hopefully there was enough of them to get this situation under control without having to call in the police.

Kris listened as Suho gave him the directions to break up a group of demons and humans on the far right corner of the room. He moved fast as he crossed the floor, noticing all of the chaos that had ensued in such a short amount of time. The glow of demon auras seemed to fill up the club, giving it a slightly surreal feel. He was able to easily manipulate the group and stalked off to find another problem with which to deal.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Tao moving towards a group of demons and decided to follow him in case he needed some back up. Not that he really cared, but he was human after all. And he was fighting on their side, right? It was only right to make sure he could handle himself. After all, if he couldn’t handle the situation – it might actually get worse and cause all kinds of trouble.

His eyes were drawn to a quick movement coming from the right of the man. He opened his mouth to yell a warning to the bouncer and his voice died in his throat as his mouth fell open taking in the scene before him.

Tao had obviously seen or sensed the movement and Kris watched in disbelief as Tao flung himself into the air sideways to avoid the drunk demon trying to barrel into him full force. The move was so fluid and graceful that it was almost a thing of beauty, and Kris felt himself being inexplicably drawn into the movements of the man. He landed from the aerial move as sleek and soft as a puma, and Kris couldn’t help but watch the crisp, yet almost sensual moves.

The demon who had attacked became furious in his drunkenness and squared his shoulders at the man, his impressive height and weight could almost double that of the bouncer’s. The man again barreled towards him, arm flung out to punch the smaller man. Tao expertly deflected the arm and in the same movement turned sideways with a sharp kick to the demon’s throat, which would have stopped most men – but this was a demon. Kris felt a sudden anxiety at the thought that the man had no idea how powerful demons could be, and it was probable that he was going to be overpowered soon.

The demon fell back with the force of the kick but recovered quickly, coming back towards Tao. Kris felt the need to get up and help the man, but instead stopped and watched as Tao delivered two kicks to the demon’s face in quick succession, reaching out and grabbing the demon’s arm and flipping with an ease that seemed almost natural and engrained in the young bouncer. The demon ended up falling on his back and Tao threw his leg in an almost 360⁰ arc, ending with his foot slamming down into the demon’s chest, effectively immobilizing him.

Kris could hear his heart beating in his ears as he watched the man’s movements. He was having trouble controlling his breathing and could feel himself taking short, quick breaths to try to calm himself. The blood rushing through his veins was loud and disconcerting, and when Tao lifted his head to meet his eyes, he could feel the heat emanating from the man, causing the blood to head to parts of his body he wasn’t prepared to handle. He felt mortified by his body’s response, but couldn’t tear his gaze away from the searing heat shining from the fighter’s eyes.

Tao, too, seemed to have been caught in the weird trancelike gaze that the two shared. Kris could see the rise and fall of his chest as he breathed heavily from the exertion of the fight, and maybe something else. After all Kris hadn’t just fought, but he could feel himself as out of breath as the younger man. His eyes followed a bead of sweat that fell from the man’s brow and slowly made its way down his face, past his lips and down to his throat. Kai felt his eyes narrow as he followed the glistening moisture, and he suddenly had trouble swallowing, as his gaze flew back up to lock onto the intense dark eyes.

The unwavering gaze was broken by a voice calling his name, dragging him out of whatever strange-ass scenario that had just occurred between the two men. Kris almost felt a reluctance to remove his attention from what he had just seen, and the way it had made him feel. He shook his head trying to clear his thoughts and go find the voice – Xiumin. He turned to go, but slid his head back around one last time and locked eyes again with the bouncer, holding his gaze as he walked across the floor. Shit. Just shit.

 

* * *

 

Suho quickly moved towards the back corner of the room where a large group of people were pushing and hitting, some of them had actually moved onto the floor and were rolling around like a bad scene out of an old western. How the hell had he missed this happening all around him? He shoved through the small group of onlookers and began grabbing at humans and demons alike, doing whatever it took to separate them. Whenever he laid his hands on them, both were manipulated enough for them to abruptly realize that they needed to leave the club and get home as soon as they could.

Within 15 minutes, the chaos in the club had somewhat calmed down as small groups of demons and trouble-causing humans were leaving the club due to the manipulation of the angels. Suho took a step back to collect his thoughts and look for any spot where he may have been needed. It was at this moment when the feeling hit him and he doubled over in pain, grabbing his stomach to try to stop himself from becoming physically ill. He felt as if someone had been pounding on him and all he wanted was to sink into oblivion and forget everything. From what seemed a distance, he heard his name being called and felt a hand on his shoulder trying to bring him back to reality.

Slowly, Lay’s features started to swim before his eyes, and he felt an intense fury that stunned him into consciousness. “What did you do?” He knew his voice was strained and irate, but he had no control over the feelings coursing through him, never having felt this kind of fury on his own behalf. “What did you say to him? What did you do, Lay?” As he talked his body was moving forward and he fell into the eradicator unknowingly, unable to hold himself up any longer.

Lay’s face had gone ashen as he took in the appearance of the small angel, eyebrows raised in concern. He let go of the demon who he currently had hold of and turned his full attention to Suho. “S-Suho, what, what’s wrong? Suho, stand up!” He felt panic start to rise inside of him at the sight of the angel. What was wrong with him? Had he been hurt by a demon?

“You, you, Lay. You…did…this to him.” He watched as Suho failed to stand up on his own, his words being forced out as if he was in pain. “What…you…did. Stay away from him…just leave him alone.” Suho fell to his knees and grabbed his head with both hands. Lay looked down at him stunned and frozen, not knowing what to say or do at the sight in front of his eyes. His mind was rewinding and searching, trying to figure out what was going on and why Suho was saying these things to him. What could he have done to make Suho turn into this?

He ran his hands through his hair and looked around as if maybe he would spot something, anything, which could help him understand what was happening in front of him. Then his eyes caught those of the demon he had been clutching only moments before and the truth hit him like a freight train. The demon. He willed himself to let all of his other concerns go so that he could put his full effort into assessing this one event happening in front of him. Slowly his mind began to make some sense of what Suho was saying and what was happening to him.

He fell to his knees in front of the small angel and grabbed his face to force him to look at him. “Suho, what has happened? How do you feel like this, what the hell has he done to you? Manipulation. He’s manipulated you, but how, Suho? Why are you so concerned about him, what did he do to cause you to feel this? Is this some new kind of manipulation I haven’t heard about?” Lay was talking at Suho, but was really speaking aloud to try and sort through his thoughts on what was happening.

He felt Suho abruptly grab his hands and throw them off of his shirt, pushing Lay away with a sudden strength. “There is no manipulation, Lay. None. He’s where he belongs, where he should be and you need to stay away from us.” His words seemed to stun the eradicator, who pulled back to look at the angel in shock. Unaware of the others gathering around the small figure kneeling on the floor.

“X? X what’s wrong? Are you hurt? Did you get hurt? Let me help you.” Suho felt hands on his back, trying to soothe him and bring him in close to them. He knew instinctively it wasn’t an angel, deducing that the hands belonged to Chen, who was now moving to sit in front of him. “Suho, talk to me. It’s all right. You don’t seem to be bleeding or anything…where does it hurt?”

Suho willed himself to look into the human’s eyes to ease his fears. He could see Chen looking around as if trying to call for someone who wasn’t quite within reach. “I-I’m, OK. I just got the wind knocked out of me. It’s OK.” He saw the sudden look of relief in Chen’s eyes as he seemed to locate what he had been searching for, and within seconds Suho felt the presence of the man’s boyfriend, his hands on his shoulder slowly assessing the angel before him.

“Hey, Suho. What’s going on?” Xiumin’s voice was steady and soft, as if trying to soothe both Suho and Chen. “Do you need help?” He stood up while holding under Suho’s arms, trying to help him to his feet. Seeing Lay next to him he couldn’t help but narrow his eyes at the eradicator. Whatever he was doing was causing Suho problems and he just wanted to get him out of the club and back home, away from this problem.

“I’m OK. “ Suho managed to stand on his own, although Xiumin was afraid that he would lose his balance at any minute, falling back to the floor. He put his hand behind the guardian’s back, leading him away from the scene and toward the club exit, throwing one last glance over his shoulder at the still stunned eradicator kneeling on the floor.

Lay heard a loud snort and turned his eyes to look at the demon he had let go of only moments earlier. The glittering eyes met his and he saw the smirk on his face. “Seems not everyone wants the presence of a big, bad eradicator huh? You don’t seem to get the message though. The pretty angel isn’t interested in you. Not at all. And I don’t think there’s anything you’re going to be able to do to change that. Get the message, Big E.”

The statement was followed by a sarcastic laugh that grated on Lay’s nerves as he glowered at the demon. “Go away, Level 1. There’s not even any need for your existence, much less your presence.” He got to his feet and pushed past the demon who got a thoughtful look on his face as he followed the eradicator’s form as it moved past throngs of people towards the back room.  
__________________________________________________________ 

Suho sat in the coffee house across from the club, watching as the chaos eased over the course of the next hour. His own pain had started to subside in the last 15 minutes or so, being replaced by a muting of his senses. He felt as if he was blurry around the edges and not quite all there. He laid his head down on the table, relishing in the feel of the cool Formica against his cheek, willing his head to clear so that he could make sense of everything that had happened tonight.

His brain kept playing the refrain of “Kai, Kai, Kai” over and over again, and he had to swallow to force down the feeling that he was going to puke all over the place. He held the position with his head down for 15 minutes, until a worker stood next to him inquiring if he was OK. Lifting his head and looking around, he noticed that the coffee shop had become a little more crowded as patrons from the bar started to filter in. The buzz from the humans started to make his head hurt and he finally felt as if he had the strength to make it back to his house.

By the time Suho finally made it to his front door, he was almost in full panic mode. He felt odd and disjointed, but more than that he felt really empty. The two figures sitting on the couch didn’t even raise their heads as he entered the living room, so engrossed in each other. He noticed the dark and strawberry blond heads almost touching as the figures leaned towards each other. Trying his best not to bother them, Suho walked towards his room, but only got a few feet before he felt the feeling in his chest that caused him to sway and fall to his knees.

Both heads jerked up when they heard the moan followed by a large thud as his knees hit the floor. Within seconds the men were by his side, Luhan wrapping an arm around him. “Suho? Suho what’s wrong? Are you all right? Are you hurt?” His voice was high pitched in concern and confusion.

Suho sagged against the warm body and took some comfort in the closeness. He sought out the other man’s eyes and locked onto them. “S-Soo? Soo, I…it hurts so bad Soo. It hurts.” He could feel tears running down his face, but didn’t seem to have the cognizance to stop their trail downward.

Kyungsoo fell onto his knees to even his gaze with his friend, shooting Luhan a concerned look that was met with an equally unsettled frown. “Suho – what is it? What hurts?” He grabbed his friend’s hand to try to get him to focus and talk to him.

“I can’t feel him, Soo. He’s not there and I’m all empty. It hurts so bad. Where is he? I can’t do this…” he grabbed his stomach and doubled over in pain, a low groan coming from him, startling Luhan, whose eyes had gotten huge.

“You can’t feel…? Kai? Is that who you’re talking about? What do you mean you can’t feel him.” His questions were met with no response from the guardian angel. Kyungsoo placed both of his hands on the sides of Suho’s face, forcing him to look up at him. “Suho, I need you to focus. Just breathe, breathe.” His voice was calm and low, soothing the upset angel and making him pause in his angst to follow the directions given to him. Kyungsoo held on to him as his breathing slowly became deeper and his eyes started to focus. He could still see the pain in his eyes, but at least they showed more awareness of his surroundings.

“That’s right, Suho. Calm down, it’s OK. You’re safe.” He lightly rubbed his thumbs over Suho’s cheek to further calm the man. “Come on let’s go sit on the couch. You need to get up from the floor.” With Luhan’s help they managed to get the angel to the couch, sitting him down, watching his every move as they did so.

“There you go. Tell me what’s going on, Suho. Is it Kai?” He saw Luhan throw him a questioning glance, but didn’t have the time to worry about it at the moment, his concern focused on his friend.

“Soo…” Suho’s voice came out as a whine. “H-He blocked the bond. I think he’s drunk, maybe. And I’m blocked, and I can’t even feel him, just an empty space, and it hurts so bad, worse than anything I’ve ever felt. I feel like there’s nothing inside of me – just nothing.” He clutched at his chest, balling up his shirt between his fingers, a sob escaping his throat.

Luhan’s eyes had grown so wide and concerned they were practically popping out of his face, but too scared to speak, thinking he would be eliminated from the conversation if he made his presence felt.

Kyungsoo had moved closer to Suho and enveloped him in his arms, trying to give him strength through the action. His eyebrows flew up in confusion as soon as he touched Suho, and the look he gave Luhan showed both confusion and wonder. He shook off the feeling and let go of Suho so that he could talk to him.

“Your bond is so strong, Suho. I just don’t know…You need to try to work through this right now because you have to be able to understand what I have to tell you. You know he’s there, Suho. Hang on to that. Alcohol will wear off and he’ll be there. I don’t think---I don’t think it’s so easy to get rid of a soulmate as just drinking.”

With his last words, Luhan’s head flew up and the surprise on his face would have been laughable, but he had no audience at the time. He whispered the word, “Soulmate” to himself, as if trying to convince himself that was what he had heard.

Suho nodded and balled his fists, trying to get himself under control. While the pain was almost unbearable, he realized that he could control it somewhat, could blur the pain by focusing on something else. When he had finally gained as much control as he was going to get, he turned towards Kyungsoo and nodded, “Why – why are you here so soon, Soo? We just talked…why so soon?”

Kyungsoo breathed deeply and turned to face his dear friend. “Suho…I’ve got a lot more research to do, but I found out enough to at least come and tell you things you might need to know right now. My mind is kind of all over the place with this because there is so much to take in, so I’ll do my best to be coherent. And then there’ the problem that there hasn’t been soulmates in over 600 years, Suho. It’s a different time. Who know how much is still the same? Things…rules…might have changed with the passage of time. Who knows?”

“First, from what I could find out – the bond is different for different people. Some can feel the other person’s feelings, some can hear their thoughts, sometimes they just feel each other’s presence or can actually physically feel what they feel. It’s kind of unusual for there to be more than one of these characteristics in a bond. The bond was always meant to be strong, but not overpowering and all-consuming. That was unusual, but there were some cases that I was able to dig up some mention of – but I have yet to find reasonable evidence and descriptions of them.”

“But even a regular soulmate bond was strong enough to cause problems when the soulmates involved were separated. Which is one of the reasons why the whole thing stopped. People became more mobile. It was impossible for soulmates to travel long distances away from their soulmate without repercussions from the bond. Soulmates would get sick when separated for too long. Mentally and physically. There were cases when soulmates perished from the break. Cases when they became mentally ill.” Kyungsoo forced himself to speak the words, knowing that Suho needed to hear everything truthfully.

“Ummm, soulmate bonds were normally male/female bonds, but there were cases of same-sex bonds. These bonds were known to be stronger, more intense. They were accepted, but less so than same-sex bonds. Even back 600-700 years ago, not everyone was soulmated. Only about 57% of the population had a soulmate. But they were considered the privileged ones – which is why same-sex soulmates were accepted even when same-sex marriages without soulmate bonds were not accepted.”

Kyungsoo paused to look at the guardian angel to make sure he was comprehending everything that he was being told. The angel was completely focused on him and he could see him digesting everything he was telling him. “Suho, the soulmate bond was always considered special, important and above censure.” Suho nodded his head at these words, unable to even speak with all of thoughts swirling in his head.

“Now – how do you recognize soulmate bonds? There was actually more information on this than anything else, and it was all fairly consistent from country to country and generation to generation. Soulmate bonds could form anytime after a soulmate’s 17th birthday. But the bond was not completed until the soulmates had actual physical contact with each other. Upon physical contact, a soulmate tattoo was inscribed on both soulmate’s skin. A tattoo with the name of their soulmate. Over and over, there was talk about a burning sensation that could be felt in the area a tattoo was inscribed on the body. Did you feel anything like that the first time you touched Kai?”

Suho racked his brain thinking about his first meeting with Kai. “N-noo. When we first touched it was kind of a…mess? I was thrown onto him and I hit my head pretty hard, and he…ummm…and, and Lay was there and causing problems and I guess it would have been fairly easy to have missed it in all of the confusion. I had a lot of trouble even focusing because of my head.” Suho was talking, rambling his thoughts to the others.

Suddenly there was a sharp in-take of breath from behind Kyungsoo, and they both turned to see the ashen face and big doe eyes of Luhan, who apparently had finally put everything together, making the realization of who the mysterious soulmate actually was. What he actually was.

Ignoring this, Kyungsoo went on with his information. “The soulmate tattoo – it’s not in any conspicuous spot. They’re actually found in areas where they wouldn’t been seen by the general population – between finger and toes, the back of the knee or neck, behind ears, the waistline. Somewhere where you wouldn’t see it unless you were actually looking for it. The tattoos of soulmates are in the same location on their bodies. If you have a tattoo, you probably wouldn’t have noticed it.”

Suho suddenly gulped thinking about the fact that he could actually know if he had a soulmate. He could find out right now if Kai was his soulmate. He felt a quick rush of panic, which must have been obvious on his face, as Kyungsoo reached out to run his hand along Suho’s arm in reassurance.

“Suho – just take your time, huh? It’s a very private thing for you – really only something for you and your soulmate to know about – I’m not expecting you to show me, or…you know…But I do think, in light of what’s happening right now, that you need to look as soon as possible, even if it’s without Kai. I mean, it’s pretty clear you guys have a bond and everything, but we’re going on information that is 700 years old or so – and it’s just better to find out where you guys fit. That’s all.”

“But, but what if he’s gone, Soo? What if I look and there’s no mark and then I never get him back again? What if I never feel him again? I don’t think…I don’t think I could handle that, Soo. I know it’s only been just so short of a time, but I feel so empty without him there and I don’t think I could live without it…” His voice fell off into a whisper as he voiced the feelings that he had not really wanted to say out loud, slowly raising his face to look into his friend’s eyes to discover how he felt about the information he had just shared with the angel.

Kyungsoo got a strange look on his face, which transformed into a look of determination, deciding to tell Suho something that he had been holding back. “Suho…I don’t know if you’ll find the tattoo or not…but you just—you should now that – he’s still there, Suho. I felt him just as strong the moment I hugged you. He was there and in pain, too. And I don’t know why you can’t feel him because it was so strong. Except, except that…” he stopped talking and trailed off as if reluctant to go on with his train of thought.

Suho grabbed his hand and shook it a little, “Soo, tell me. Please, tell me.” He knew his voice sounded desperate, but at the moment it didn’t even matter, all that mattered was finding out about Kai.

Kyungsoo turned his hand so that he was actually holding the guardian’s hand, and looked into his eyes. “Suho, it’s just that I couldn’t feel you to as seperate. I felt both of you, but your entities were kind of entwined or something. I don’t really understand. It was like you were both there but you were also just one. I don’t know if that’s a soulmate thing. I have to keep doing research. It seems like you and Kai embody every soulmate characteristic there is out there.” And then he seemed to turn into himself and whispered as if talking to himself, “It’s so strange and I haven’t read anything like it.”

Instead of the shocked expression he expected to see flit across Suho’s face, Kyungsoo instead saw an acceptance, as if the information did not in any way surprise the man. “The aura was different, His aura was muted and no one could tell it was a demon’s aura…” Suho seemed to be talking to himself, but Kyungsoo understood immediately what he was saying.

He didn’t know how to tell him how much the information worried him – all of the things that it could entail. All of the problems and complications it could cause. The inherent danger in a soulmate bond that merged two entities into one soul. He suddenly itched to get back to heaven so that he could throw himself into his research. He loved researching interesting things and finding information that seemed to have been lost over the years, but this was even more than that. This affected his friend – a friend he loved and wanted to protect.

The desire to leave immediately slowly dissipated as he heard the hesitant throat clearing behind him and remembered that they were not alone. He turned to see how Luhan was dealing with everything he had just heard. Suho and he should have been more careful and discreet with what was going on, but the heat of the moment and his friend’s need overruled the need for caution.

Kyungsoo could see the confusion in the face of the beautiful angel. He had the urge to reach out and assure him that everything was fine, that Suho was going to be OK, but he was hesitant to do so, not knowing how his actions would be taken. But it was Luhan who moved towards him to seek reassurance in his closeness. The angel settled next to Kyungsoo and leaned into him, still seeming to be in shock. Kyungsoo couldn’t help the arm that went around him to draw his body towards him, or the murmur of “It’s going to be OK, Xiao Lu.” The nickname seemed to pop out without thought and he could feel the man melt into him at the words.

Kyungsoo had to slowly drag himself away from the feelings that were beginning inside of him, wondering why things were so difficult on Earth. Everything seemed to be magnified and there always seemed to be problems. In heaven, everything seemed to be possible and hopeful and doable. Shouldn’t that mean they he would want to always be in heaven? But one look at the light orange hair by his side, and he was torn.

He wrenched his thoughts away from his own problems and focused on Suho, who was sitting next to him with the continued look of slight pain on his face. “Suho are you feeling any better?”

“Nooo, it’s a little different. But it’s still so empty and that’s what hurts the worst. But everything feels really blurred and muted still. I just have so much trouble focusing and I think this conversation took it all out of me. I’m just-just going to go try to sleep, Soo. I just need to be…alone?” He said the words with an incredulous edge to his voice. He stood up and Kyungsoo and Luhan rose with him. “I’ll be OK, Soo, don’t worry.”

“Mmmm. But Suho – you do know what you need to do, right? You have to look Suho. You have to know.” He knew that the guardian angel understood his words without having to expand upon them. He watched as the angel slowly nodded and moved towards his own room, as two pairs of eyes solemnly followed him.

“K-Kyungsoo? What should I do for him? How did this- this happen?” Luhan’s eyes were big as he faced the elder angel, his voice full of concern and uncertainty.

Kyungsoo just shook his head, “There’s really nothing to do about it, just be here for him. And you-you’re going to have to learn to accept his relationship, too, Lu. It’s going to be hard, but it’s real and he has no control over it. Just-I mean you all live with him, so eventually everyone will know, I think, but for now could you just keep quiet about what you know? Kris already knows about their, ummm, relationship, but he hasn’t any idea about the whole soulmate thing. Only you ,me and Suho have that information.” He gave a sort of pointed look to the angel and waited.

“Yeah, yeah, I can do that. I love him, you know? He’s just an amazing soul and I trust his judgement. And…I trust your judgement, too.”

Kyungsoo felt his cheeks heat up with these words. What the hell? He hadn’t blushed in hundreds of years. He shook his head, ‘Maybe, you could just keep a watch on him for me? Let me know how he’s doing and check in with me, ummm, like maybe everyday just to update me? You can just text me or call, or what-whatever.” He watched as the angel nodded his assent.

Kyungsoo turned quickly and headed towards the door, feeling foolish with the words he had just uttered. He had so much trouble talking in front of people or when he got nervous – and Luhan was making him nervous. He said things, but after saying them had almost no clue what it was he had just tried to convey. He felt as if his head became empty and he couldn’t remember anything.

Before the door closed he distinctly heard the whisper, “I’ll see you later, Soo,” and could not stop the sudden increase in his heart rate at the words.

 The only thought on his mind as he closed his bedroom door was the tattoo. He told himself he was going to sleep, but the thought of the tattoo was haunting him. He knew what he was feeling wasn’t curiosity, but terror. Terror at the thought that there would not be a tattoo marking his body.

Suho stepped into the bathroom adjoining his room and proceeded to take off the elf costume, letting the costume fall to the floor as he walked to the shower. His mind was buzzing the whole time he let the hot water course over his body and wash away the grime from the night. As he ran his hands over his body to wash, his mind was constantly thinking – _Was he touching a soulmate tattoo right now? Had he been touching the tattoo for the past month without any knowledge of it?_ The thought made him shudder.

He stepped out of the shower and slowly dried off his body – _Was he touching the tattoo? Was he touching the tattoo?_  It was a mantra that played over and over and he couldn’t get it out of his head. With a sigh, he went to stand in front of the mirror – naked and vulnerable. It was not something he normally did – look at himself naked in front of the mirror.

He let his eyes roam down the front of him trying to notice anything that could possibly be a tattoo – nothing. He thought about what Kyungsoo had said and grabbed a small mirror from one of the drawers under the sink. He held it up to check the back of the neck – nothing. Placing the mirror at an angle, he checked carefully behind each ear, craning to look for a sign – anything that could possibly be a mark on his body. Nothing.

Suho could feel his heart pounding and willed himself not to become upset. He held up both arms and tried to examine them from every angle. Circling around in a vain attempt to see every inch of his arms and underarms. It took him a few minutes to be sure that he had covered all areas – and found nothing.

He could feel his heartbeat increase as he lowered his eyes down his chest, to his abs and bellybutton – carefully inspect every inch of his body that he could see. His eyes moved to his V cut and he ran his fingers along the deep grooves, making sure that nothing was hidden and he wasn’t missing anything.  
He could feel his heart beating in his ears and the beginnings of desperation was clawing behind his eyeballs.

He slowly turned to inspect his sides and his back, running his eyes from the top of his shoulders down towards the waistline, as he circled around slowly to see himself from all sides. He lowered his eyes and without warning his breath hitched and he felt a dizziness that filled up his head. On his left hip, slightly angled towards his back, about an inch below the waistline he noticed a mark that had never been there before. It was about an inch long and written in fancy black script. He closed his eyes to steady his nerves and began to breathe deeply.

Moving closer to the mirror, he held his hand over the spot, as if he would be able to feel what the words said – feeling foolish that he had the thought that this tattoo was capable of some kind of telepathy. He slowly moved his hand off of the mark and opened his eyes – willing them to focus.  
His breath hitched as his eyes focused on the words, mouthing them as he read what they said:

_**Kim Jong In** _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that's that. Please, please comment! I die for comments and just wait around hoping for something to keep me going, give me advice, yell at me - whatever.


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